You Have to Pay the Toll
by pattie mayonnaise
Summary: How do two seemingly different people fall in love? Is it fate? Destiny? Maybe it's cause their names rhyme. ChazzJazz that's right!
1. My Frisbee Brings All the Boys 2 Da Yard

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh G/X! All that I own is this bag of chips I'm eating…

This is my first fanfic! Finally I've gotten off my butt and written the first chapter…but I've decided I'm going to write this story in two parts, because…well there are two parts to it. SOO this is Part One! Hope you like it! And it's Jazz/Chazz, I LOVE this couple, kind of an unpopular pairing though..probably because they hardly give Jasmine and Mindy screentime! I don't know why, I mean I think if they develop them they'd be pretty cool characters, plus they need a little more girls on the show. Anyways I think they'd be good together, hence the story I'm writing. R&R pleeease, and criticism is welcome, but be nice :)

A/N: I completely forgot the name of the island Duel Academy is on, and I know it's some really obvious, self-explanatory name but for the life of me I can't remember! So I just called it Duel Island, sorry if that's wrong!

Thoughts are in "_Italics_"

* * *

"Ok, don't look now, but there's a major hottie over by the Slushie stand!" 

Both Jasmine and Alexis looked to their right to see just who was the so-called hottie Mindy was talking about.

She scoffed. "No! I said _don't_ look!"

"Well how exactly are we supposed to see him then?" Jasmine asked, annoyed.

"You're so impatient, Jazz. Just wait—if you both look now it'd be too obvious!"

Jasmine and Alexis exchanged a look and rolled their eyes. It was a Saturday afternoon, and the three friends were enjoying their day out at the beach waiting for Jaden and the guys to come. It was the first day of a rare week-long vacation off of Duel Island, since on the neighboring island was the grand opening of Kaibaland, a very hyped-up and well-publicized new theme park formed by both the Kaiba brothers. The Headmaster had been invited as a guest of honor and to win an award of some sort, so in his flattered and good spirits he allowed the whole Duel Academy have the week off and enjoy the festivities. Jasmine was grateful for the break; it seemed like the first time all three of them had been together like this in a long time. It wasn't like when they were kids, when you never saw one without the other two.

"_School's been so hectic though_…" thought Jasmine, trying to make an excuse. "_After all, we'll be graduating soon, right_?"

She turned to Alexis, who was still looking at Mindy for her signal, and realized just how little she had seen of her, ever since she met Jaden. It wasn't such a bad thing—not anymore at least, though she had to admit she didn't think too much of him at first. He kind of grew on her; there was never really a dull moment with him after all. She could see why Alexis enjoyed being with him and his friends— and, of course, it was pretty obvious Alexis had a little thing for him, though she would not admit it to _anyone—_but still, she couldn't help but feel a little left out at times.

"Ok! Quick! Look now, he's turned around!" Mindy not so quietly whispered.

Jasmine and Alexis finally looked to catch a glimpse of Mindy's exalted hottie—or at least, the back of his head.

"Ugh Mindy! This is totally pointless!" sighed Jasmine.

Mindy made a face, which made Alexis laugh.

"Maybe to _you_, Jazz, but I think I'm in love," she said the last part in a dreamy voice, then quickly resorted back to her snappy tone. "And I don't want him to think I'm like stalkerish or anything!"

"Oh, you're in love again, I see. How many times has it been this week? 15? 20?"

"Don't exaggerate! That's only _five_ times, and it was a repeat with Chazz!" Mindy retorted matter-of-factly.

"No point in arguing now Jasmine…I think she really does keep score," Alexis joked, causing both to giggle.

"Ha _ha_. Very funny, Alexis. Well, at least _I_ am open with you two about who I like! Unlike you, who tries to keep her crush on Jaden a secret even though everybody knows!"

Alexis suddenly blushed. "They do? I-I mean, why would they think that? I'm not trying to keep _anything_ a secret! He's just a friend!"

By now she was looking down and fiddling with her fork and the leftover food she had finished eating 15 minutes ago. Jasmine and Mindy exchanged knowing smiles.

"We're not going to tell anyone, Alexis. And to tell you the truth, Jaden's as clueless as ever about it. But I think he would be thrilled to have you like him, you know," said Jasmine, causing Alexis to look up from her plate, a little smile forming on her face that she then quickly attempted to hide by taking a sip of her drink.

"Well I think when he comes you should make your move! There's nothing more romantic than a beach scene in the open…fresh air…" Mindy said, dreamily looking off into the distance, then looked back. "When are they coming again?"

Alexis blushed. "Not for another hour…and I don't know what you're talking about…I told you he's just a friend!"

"Well, oook…..if you say so…." Jasmine smirked. Her comment caused Mindy to shift her attention to her.

"And what about _you_, Jazz? Don't think you're spared. Who do you like?" she asked slyly.

Jasmine knew the question had been coming, but, in all honesty, she didn't have an answer.

She sighed. "No one."

"No one? Are you sure?" Mindy pressed.

"_Figures Mindy wouldn't give up so easily_," thought Jasmine before replying. "Yes, I'm sure…_actually_," began again with a plan, "now that you mention it, I think I'm gonna go say hi to that guy at the Slushie stand you were talking about." She didn't really want to, she hadn't even seen his _face_ yet, but she knew the subject would be changed. Her non-existent love life wasn't exactly her top conversation piece.

"You wouldn't! He's mine!" Mindy gasped.

"I most certainly would, and uh, who's gonna stop me? You?"

"You know our rules! First one who sees the guy, gets the guy! And I was first…"

The two continued bickering until Alexis, who was pretty used to this, cut it off when she said, "You guys, he left already."

"Oh," They both said together, and suddenly the "fight" was over.

"Hey let's go play Frisbee!" Mindy said excitedly like she had the greatest plan ever.

Jasmine scrunched her nose while Alexis agreed to play. "What's wrong with you? Guys LOVE it when girls play Frisbee," Mindy said to Jasmine, wiggling her eyebrows, "We'll attract them by the thousands!"

"Yeah I'm sure we would, considering all the other times it hasn't happened."

"Speak for yourself! I'm a man eater."

"Right, Mindy. Anyways I look dumb playing Frisbee, and running, and you know something bad always happens to me when we do."

"That's cause you get so into it, Jazz," Alexis said, then turned to Mindy. "Remember that time she ran into the poor ice cream man's wagon? All the ice cream fell out and her butt was in his face! I bet that was the most action he'd gotten in a while!"

"Yeah that was quite the move on him, Jazz. You're quite the vixen, I must say," added Mindy. "Ice cream guys look out for flying Jasmines."

They broke into laughter causing Jasmine to say not so pleasantly, "You're not helping. Stop laughing! Stop! Arrggh…well you see now my case then!"

"Aww come on, Jazz. We're just joking! You look awesome when you play Frisbee, I swear. Let's play. You know you want toooo…" said Alexis.

She and Mindy pouted and looked at her with wide eyes.

"You guys suck." She sighed. "_Fine_. I'll play."

"WHOOO! Jasmine you're my hero!" cried Mindy as she ran out onto the sand. Alexis then ran out, followed by a trudging Jasmine.

"_Man I HOPE I don't regret this_…" she thought.

They started playing and all was going good for awhile. "Well, you know, it is kinda fun…" thought Jasmine, beginning to run to catch the Frisbee that had sailed over her head.

FWAP!

"_Spoke too soon…_" she thought bitterly. Then she looked up to see what she had run into—and saw it was one of the hottest guys she had ever seen.

"_Or maybe not so bad_…"

"O-oh! I-I'm sorry!" she said quickly, getting up and self-consciously brushing the sand off her.

"Hey, no problem!" he smiled at her, picking up the Frisbee, his side-swept brown hair blowing in the wind and blue eyes sparkling. "So you're playing Frisbee?"

She smiled back, forgiving his statement of the obvious—it was cute after all.

"Yeah, with my friends."

"That's cool," he said, then smirked. "Mind if I play with you all?"

"What? No! Come! I mean, sure! I mean, the more the merrier, you know?" she nervously spurted out, then mentally lambasted herself.

"_Way to go Jazz—way to be cool and relaxed_," she thought.

But he laughed and smiled wider. "Awesome. Let's go."

When she turned around she saw Alexis and Mindy watching intently a little distance away, with eyes wide with excitement and smiles plastered on their faces. She glared at them, as a signal to tone it down a bit.

As they were walking, he turned and asked, "So what's your name, Frisbee girl?"

"_He already has a nickname for me_," she thought, smiling.

"Jasmine," she answered.

"Jasmine. That's a pretty name…fits you perfectly."

"_Wow,"_ she thought.

"And what's your name, Mystery Man?"

He laughed lightly and looked at her with a smirk. "How about I play you for it?"

She raised an eyebrow. They then reached Alexis and Mindy, who were still smiling, and the question remained unanswered.

"Sooo Jasmine…took you long enough to get here," said Mindy slyly. She looked at the guy and her eyes widened with realization.

"Yeah that's Mindy," began Jasmine, "and that's Alexis. They're only my best friends in the whole world."

"Course we are," said Alexis.

"And what's your name?" asked Mindy, batting her eyelashes.

He smiled and looked at Jasmine. "I told Jasmine here I'd play her for it."

"Challenge accepted!" she said. "You're going down you know. It's us three against you!" she said to him.

"Hey no fair! Ah…FINE. I bet I can still beat you all."

"Don't be so sure!" she teased. "Let's huddle, team!"

The three friends used this time to gab excitedly.

"Oh my god, Jasmine! That's the guy from the Slushie stand!" said Mindy.

"Are you serious? Well you were right when you said he was cute!" Jasmine answered. "He's gorgeous and funny and…just perfect."

"He definitely likes you, Jazz, I mean he's making it so obvious," Alexis added.

She smiled. "He's perfect."

"Yeah you said…I know I wanted him before, but he's totally digging you Jazz. Go for it NOW…or I will!" laughed Mindy.

"All right, all right! Let's start the game now."

* * *

"Ok ok! I surrender!" 

"Ha ha! I told you we'd win!"

The Frisbee game had somehow turned into a football/tackle match, ending with dream-guy getting pummeled. Suddenly a familiar voice called out Alexis's name. The group turned and saw it was Jaden walking along with Syrus, Atticus, Bastion, and a slightly disgruntled Chazz, who looked he had been forced to come, a bit of a distance away.

"Hey!" Alexis called back to him excitedly.

Jasmine turned back to see a very odd expression form on Slushie-guy's face, his smile fading into a sort of clenched-teeth sort of frown, a hint of worry in his eyes. She realized then he still remained nameless, and ignored his expression.

"And what's your name? Since we won…well creamed you really."

"Heh heh," he laughed nervously. She raised an eyebrow when he started shifting uncomfortably and looking to the side. "Uhh…It's Evan," he said quickly. He looked at his watch. "Hey it was real nice talking to you but I got to go."

"Oh…well ok," Jasmine said quietly, disappointed, watching him quickly walk off out of sight, seconds before Jaden and the group reached them. She turned back trying to figure what she did wrong to make him leave in such a hurry. She sighed. "_Back to square one_," she thought sadly.

"HEY you guys! We have arrived!" said Jaden enthusiastically. Alexis and Mindy laughed, but Jasmine was distracted, as she noticed Chazz looking with narrowed eyes in the direction Evan had just gone off to.

"Who were you all talking to?" he asked tensely, still looking off with suspicion in his eyes.

"Hm? Oh hey, where did Hottie go? We didn't even find out his name!" cried Mindy, oblivious to what had just happened, and realizing he was gone.

"He left. And his name was Evan," said Jasmine, a bit of her disappointment echoing in her answer. Mindy and Alexis exchanged looks of concerns.

"Oh," said Chazz, relaxing considerably after hearing his name.

"_That's weird…what's **his** deal?"_ Jasmine thought, regarding Chazz's strange behavior. _"What the hell's up with guys today?"_

Everyone began talking animatedly, Mindy having a blast since Atticus and Bastion were deep in conversation with her, who were both often the objects of her affection, and Alexis laughing with Syrus over something Jaden said. The only one who wasn't talking was Chazz, who looked like he was thinking hard about something, brow furrowed and all. It was funny.

"Calculating the rocket speed and acceleration needed to reach Jupiter?" she asked, her attempt at a joke.

"Huh?" he asked confused, and looked at her like he was wondering why she was even talking to him.

"Eh…never mind," she mumbled, turning away, feeling stupid. She had never really talked to him muchanyways, it was mostly Alexis and Mindy. She was thoroughly surprised to hear him let out the tiniest late laugh. More like a grunt.

"Oh you get it now? I would think such a self-proclaimed genius like yourself would have gotten it earlier."

"Maybe it's just a stupid joke," he said, causing her to roll her eyes. "Actually," he continued, "I'm thinking about something…" He paused.

"Yeah? What?"

"….that's none of your business." With that he turned away.

"_What a jerk,"_ she thought, giving him a dirty look behind his back, and then joining in the conversation with Alexis, Jaden, and Syrus.

* * *

The end! Well of the chapter, anyway. Sorry if was sort of a slow chapter...and I don't know how a frisbee game can turn into a tackle match but ANYWAYS i think you'll forgive me right? at least you won't lock me in a cell and feed me scraps right? heh heh...please dont! well...review pretty please! 


	2. Stop the Party

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh G/X.

SOO here's the second chapter! THANK YOU to those who reviewed! It pleased me most! You deserve a round of applause and some fine praisin'. -claps energetically- YOU'RE THE BEST!

NOW REVIEW AGAIN I TELL YOU! ……I mean, pretty please?

* * *

Mindy sighed contently. "Oh, what a GREAT day it was! I mean, when you have Atticus, Bastion, _and_ Chazz all in the same place in the same day, it's _already_ a good day, but it was really fun too! I love the beach."

"Yeah, it was really fun!" Alexis nodded.

They started talking excitedly about the events of the day while Jasmine slipped into their hotel room silently. She didn't think it was such a good day. She flopped down on the bed and closed her eyes.

Mindy noticed. "Uh, are you all right, Jazz?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, perhaps a little too quickly, or with too fake a smile, because her two friends saw right through it.

"No you're not…you haven't said a word this whole time. Does it have to something to do with Evan from today?" asked Alexis.

Jasmine looked up, scrunching her nose guiltily. "Yeah…I mean, I know it's stupid, I only just met him after all…" she began.

"That doesn't matter! You still like him," said Alexis, consolingly.

"Yeah, I do, I just…I don't know…I guess I just thought I'd finally found someone who could possibly turn into something more, you know?" she paused, her expression disappointed. "I _thought_ I was doing good…and to get my hopes up and then have him run off so fast like that—"

"Whoa! Stop right there, Jazz!" Mindy interjected, holding her hand up as a stop signal. "Are you thinking he didn't like you? Because that's just crazy, he definitely liked you. Trust me, I noticed."

"Yeah, he couldn't get his eyes off you! There's got to be a good reason he was in a hurry to go—and it wasn't because of you," Alexis added.

"Yeah! Like, maybe he had to go to work or something!" Mindy suggested.

"Mindy, this is Kaibaland—it has its own island," Jasmine refuted.

"Oh…well, maybe he's Kaiba's personal assistant!" she answered back, trying to lighten the mood. Jasmine shook her head.

"You know, she might not be totally off. I mean, some big-shot company heads were invited, so maybe he works for one of them and had to go to a meeting!" Alexis said. "And anyways, he might not even work for them. Maybe he works at a concession stand or mans one of the rides. It _is _a theme park, you know, there are plenty of jobs he could do."

"Maybe…" Jasmine said, nodding, but it was clear she still wasn't convinced as she looked away. "But don't you think he would've just told me that?"

Alexis frowned. "Well ok, if not that, maybe he had to go..." she paused, trying to think up another situation on the spot, "…give his grandmother her medication!"

She exchanged a look with Mindy, who understood where her friend was going with this. "Yeah! And then, after that, he had to go feed all the stray little puppies over at the adoption center!" she said.

"And then after that, he had to go continue his research for a cure for cancer," Alexis added.

"And then feed all the baby _kittens_ at the adoption center," said Mindy, nodding.

Jasmine laughed softly. There was no adoption center, and a grandmother who always needed her medication probably wouldn't choose an amusement park to spend her time. But she knew where her friends were trying to do, and honestly, it did make her feel better. "And then he had to go to a rally to save the rainforests," she added, smiling.

"Yeah, there we go!" Alexis exclaimed happily. "Now _there's_ the Jasmine smile we know and love!"

"The sun'll come ouuut…" sang Mindy, with a wide, teasing smile, and Alexis immediately joined in.

"_Oh no…_" thought Jasmine.

"Tomorrow! Betcha bottom dollar that…" They paused for a bit, waiting for Jasmine to finish it.

"Oh my god …" she sighed, and, in defeat, said more than sang, "Tomorrow…"

"There'll be…" They paused again.

"What will there be, Alexis?" asked Mindy.

"Hmm…I don't know, Mindy! _Jasmine?_" said Alexis, as they both turned to her, each with one eyebrow raised. Jasmine couldn't help but laugh. "Sun," she answered, rolling her eyes, but not in a mean way. "Thanks you guys."

"Hm…what would you do without us?" Mindy smiled.

"Yeah, and you know, you probably are gonna see Evan tomorrow. I mean, it's not a very big island, you're bound to see him sometime," Alexis reasoned.

"In which case he will come up to you and profess his great and undying love for you!" Mindy exclaimed.

All three laughed. When it died down, Jasmine asked shyly, yet still pleased,

"He really couldn't take his eyes off me?"

* * *

Chazz lied down on the hotel bed, relieved to finally have some quiet time to relax, after being dragged to the beach where he just stood around the whole time, being ignored by Alexis who was instead paying all her attention to _Jaden_.

"_Tch. What does he have that I don't? **I'm **the man around here,"_ he thought, clearly miffed. _"It was my chance to make a move, and the most I could do was dig holes in the sand and listen to corny jokes from her dumb friends." _He looked in the mirror across from him, trying to see if there had been anything on his face that could've deterred Alexis. He cupped his hand over his mouth and let out a short breath. _"Oh no, I hope it wasn't my breath."_

He sighed. Today most definitely had not been a good day.

And then, he thought he had seen someone he knew years ago. Someone he absolutely hated. "_But it wasn't. His name wasn't Evan,"_ he thought, relieved it hadn't been. Still, it brought up bitter memories he surely did _not_ want to remember.

Just then some pounding music started playing next door; no doubt Jaden's doing. He thanked his lucky stars once again that he didn't have to share a room with him. Instead, he was sharing it with Atticus and, when he arrived the next day, Zane, who were much more normal and tolerable.

"SOOOO, Chazzie. Dreamin' about my sister or somethin'?"

Well, not completely normal and tolerable.

"I-" he began annoyed but was cut off by Atticus laughing loudly.

"Hahahahaha! I'm just jokin' with ya! It didn't work out too well last time anyways."

Chazz was reminded of when he dueled a "love duel" for Alexis, and promptly blushed. "It was your fault…" he mumbled.

Suddenly there was a loud thump on the wall, causing Chazz to jump. "Arrggh! What nonsense is going ON over there! And he really needs to turn down that obnoxiously loud music!" he yelled angrily.

"Bah! You sound like an old man, Chazz! Liiive a little! You're only 17 once!"

There was another loud pounding then, this time on the door that conjoined the two rooms.

"Don't POUND on it, Jaden! Just knock, like this." There was a soft knocking after that. Atticus got up to open it, revealing Jaden and Syrus.

"Whoa, Sy! It DOES lead to the other room! And not to some time-warping vortex," exclaimed Jaden, amazed by this new discovery of his.

"Yo guys! Join the party me n' Chazz were just havin'!" Atticus said happily.

"Aw no…" Chazz said dismayed as Jaden bounded in, followed by a mellower Syrus.

"Whoo! Party!" shouted Jaden.

"Nooo! No party! There's no party!" Chazz yelled in a panic.

"Hey, you too, Bastion! Come on overrr!" Atticus called, hands cupped over his mouth as if Bastion were miles away.

And so, Chazz's quiet relaxation time—which was never really so quiet and relaxed to begin with—was completely ruined.

* * *

"STOP EATING MY PEANUTS!"

"Aw come on Chazz! Didn't you ever learn the wonderful lesson of _sharing_?"

"No!" Chazz answered, snatching the bag from Jaden. "Eat your own peanuts!"

"I already did. I want more."

"_I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! He never stops!"_ thought Chazz. "Well too bad."

"Hmm…I say if this hotel _really_ wanted to give us complimentary peanuts, they'd give us more than ONE bag! More like a whole case."

"I think you're the only one who'd eat that much," said Bastion.

"Maaan, Jay Jay. How do you eat so much? Remind me to give you any leftovers I don't want," added Atticus.

"Gladly!" Jaden said happily.

"Yeah, it's what we usually do," Syrus said laughing.

"A growing boy's gotta eat you know! What do you want me to do, _starve_?" said Jaden, chomping on the peanuts he stole, and ignoring Chazz's answer of "Yes" in the background, "So what are we gonna do tomorrow?"

"Well, we gotta meet up with Zane first, and then…uhhh…I don't know! Just hang out I guess. The actual Kaibaland theme park doesn't open until Monday anyway," answered Atticus.

"Yeah. I wish it were opening tomorrow…it would help break the ice a little. I haven't seen my brother in a while, he's been so busy," said Syrus, a little downcast.

"It'll be fine, Sy. We can eat out somewhere!" Jaden said.

"Figures you'd somehow bring in food. Though I did hear about a good restaurant around here…" said Bastion, and they started talking about what they were going to do tomorrow.

Chazz sat quietly, trying to block out all the noise, wondering when everyone would leave. He closed his eyes, only to pop them back open when he heard,

"OOH! BOSS! You listening to what they're saying? It sounds like fun!"

"What are you doing out?" Chazz said to his Ojama Yellow a little loudly, but nobody seemed to notice. He lowered his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Well you didn't think you'd go without me didja? I LOVE theme parks!" he laughed.

"Theme park? Did I hear THEME PARK?" Ojama Black said excitedly as he and Ojama Green came out.

"Are we there yet?" Ojama Green asked obnoxiously.

"No! And you all need to go back or people will see I'm talking to myself!"

"But…you're not talking to yourself," said Yellow.

"Yeah, I _know_ that, but it _looks_ like I'm talking to myself!"

"Ohhh! I get it now, Boss!"

"Get out of here!" he whispered loudly.

Chazz turned to see everybody looking at him. He froze. They saw him. His Ojamas were so going to get it later. "Uhh…" he said nervously.

"So what do you think Chazz?" Jaden asked him, as if nothing was wrong. So maybe they didn't see him. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Think about what?"

"The restaurant! We're taking a vote on who wants to go! Haven't you been listening?" asked Jaden.

"Oh! Yeah! The restaurant, of course. Haha! Yeah, I say yeah," he answered quickly.

* * *

The next day, the group sat at the docks, waiting for Zane's ferry to come. Jasmine sat up, shielding her eyes from the hot sun when she saw a boat pulling in.

"It's here!" said Syrus, and ran up to the exit ramp. Not long after, a tall, handsome man with turquoise hair exited the boat, along with the other passengers.

"Yay! It's Zane!" Mindy squealed, and Alexis smiled. "Jeez, Mindy…just don't tackle him or anything," she said.

"Zaaane! My man! What is up!" called Atticus, giving him one of those "man-hugs" and patting him hard on the back.

"Hey Atticus," Zane answered, not quite as enthusiastically but not rudely.

"Dude, we're like gonna totally have a blast here!" Atticus added, holding Zane by the shoulders and slightly shaking him.

"I'll take your word for it."

"Hi Zane," said Syrus, a little quietly, as he walked up to him brother.

Zane looked down. "Hi Syrus."

He said nothing more, so Syrus decided to continue. "Uh…how've you been?"

"Alright, I guess. You?"

"I'm good!" Syrus answered happily, a bit surprised his brother wanted to know. Zane nodded slightly and began walking, Atticus bombarding him with questions. Syrus's face fell; he thought Zane would have continued the conversation.

As everyone started walking back to the hotel rooms as well, Jasmine sort of tuned them out and looked around the dock. She was left disappointed. There was nobody of interest. At least, who she _wanted_ to see, wasn't there.

Mindy came up to her. "Are you looking for Evan or something?" she asked slyly and knowingly.

"No!" Jasmine answered quickly. Mindy gave her a doubtful look, causing her to change her answer. "Ok, fine…_yes_…" Jasmine restated. She sighed. "I'm hopeless!"

Mindy laughed. "Well a lot of people come out here. I'll help you look." She scanned the area. "Oh! Ohmygod, is that him?" she said excitedly, pointing to a guy who had his back to them.

Jasmine squinted. "I don't know…" His hair was the same color, the same length, but it looked a little funny…

He turned around, taking off a wig. They let out little screams. "Definitely not!" said Jasmine.

"Hey you thought it was him too!" said Mindy.

"No I didn't! That guy was old! And worked for the carnival! You're not very good at this, you know."

"Hmph. Says you. That was only my first try," she retorted. Jasmine rolled her eyes. She looked to her right.

And saw him.

She stopped. "Huh? What are you-" said Mindy confused when she noticed Jasmine wasn't walking with her anymore. She followed her trail of vision, and gasped happily. "That's him!"

"I know," said Jasmine.

"Well, what are you waiting for! Go up to him!"

Jasmine started to feel queasy. _"What if he blows me off?"_ she thought worriedly. "Umm…maybe this isn't such a good idea," she said meekly.

"Not a good idea! What are talking about? Here, _I'll_ call him! Evan! EVAN!" she called, failing to get his attention. "Why isn't he turning around? Evan!" she said annoyed as she went up and tapped him on the shoulder, ignoring the attempts by Jasmine to make her stop. He turned. "Oh! Uh, hi!" he said, surprised.

"Hey! Remember us? I was calling you, you know. And you didn't turn around!" said Mindy. "Did you change names on us since we last saw you? What is it now, Hector?"

He laughed a little. "Oh…yeah, sorry. Uh, I didn't hear you," he apologized quickly. "And actually, it's William the Third now, and yes, of course I remember you," he said looking pointedly at Jasmine. She smiled. "So I was just about to go play at these carnival games here. You want to come with me?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Jasmine immediately.

"You know, I'd love to come but I've…got some really important things to do!" said Mindy quickly. Jasmine turned and widened her eyes at her as if to say, "No don't go!"

"And just _what_ important things do you have to do?" she asked, knowing just what Mindy was trying to do.

"Ohh…_very_ important stuff. Super top-secret. Well gotta go! Oh yeah, and Evan…make sure you have her back at the Benito's restaurant by 7:00!" she said cheerfully.

"I'll have her back by curfew, ma'am," he said, jokingly. She nodded, winking at Jasmine and said, "Good!" She turned and started walking away quickly, catching up with the rest of the group that was now quite a bit away.

Jasmine turned back to Evan, laughing nervously. "That Mindy…"

"_Oh, she's so going down." _

He laughed, and lifted his arms up as if to invite her in. "Shall we play then?"

She smiled. "Yeah! Let's go."

* * *

"So…here we are," said Evan.

"Yup," she said. What else was she supposed to say to that?

"I had a great time. Will I get to see you again?" he asked sweetly.

"Definitely. And I had a great time too."

"Good." He smiled, and leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the lips. "I'll see you later."

"_Hmmm..thank you Mindy,"_ she thought dreamily, hugging the soft brown teddy bear Evan had won for her as she watched him walk off. She walked into the restaurant and found the group, sitting down in the empty chair by Mindy, Alexis on Mindy's other side.

"Hey Mindy!" she said, who greeted her in return. Jasmine looked at Alexis to say "hi" to her too, but she was turned to Chazz who was telling her, "You smell really good tonight."

"Uhh…thanks Chazz," she heard Alexis reply, as she turned to her.

"_Aw man, you need something better than that,"_ she thought, wincing at Chazz.

"So, what happened?" asked Alexis, turning to Jasmine.

"Yeah! Give us all the details!" Mindy said.

"Later!" said Jasmine, smiling, but showed her bear. "He won this for me though." Both her friends let out an "Awww!"

"That's so sweet! What are you gonna name him?" asked Mindy as she played with his arms.

"Hmm…how about Mr. Snugglesworth!" she said happily.

"Aww! Perfect!" said Alexis, playing with his ears. Just then the food came.

"Oh yeah, Jazz. I ordered for you. Hope you don't mind," said Mindy.

"Thanks," she replied, knowing Mindy knew her enough to pick something she'd like.

"Ok, I'm dying here Jasmine. You've got to tell me and Alexis SOMETHING about today!" she said.

"Yeah!" said Alexis. "Like did he kiss you or anything?"

Jasmine stayed silent and only smiled.

"Oh my god he did!" squealed Mindy.

"Well…it was just a little kiss…" she said, but with a big smile.

At the end of dinner, everyone sat around the table, full and happy, those who ordered one waiting for their dessert. Jasmine, listening to Mindy animatedly talk to Jaden and Alexis about a dream she recently had that came true—"Sometimes I think I'm psychic!" she had said—quietly looked around the restaurant, a little bored. She had heard this story too many times already.

Suddenly she was distracted by a rustling noise across from her. She looked over and saw Chazz fiddling with something he brought. She raised an eyebrow as he took out a little cup of pudding.

"Lil' Scoop N' Smile…" she read slowly, slightly squinting. She laughed. "You brought your own pudding?"

He looked up, surprised at first, but immediately changing to annoyance. "None of your business, but if you _must_ know," he said. "_Obviously_ I did."

"You brought your own pudding!" she repeated, laughing even harder.

"What's so funny about that?" he asked angrily.

"Well, _why_ would you do that? You can order dessert here," she answered defensively, taken aback by his rudeness.

"Well I don't _want_ to, and _I_ can do what I want," he said stubbornly.

"Ok, ok, calm down." She continued to look at him, watching him eat. "Sooo, what happens if you scoop it and _don't_ smile? SUE THE COMPANY?" She started chuckling at her own joke.

He stared. "Are you always like this?"

She stopped laughing. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you need to stop telling jokes."

"Yeah well, you should stop telling girls they _smell_ good," she retorted angrily. This guy was rude. Why was Alexis friends with him?

He blushed. "Shut up…"

Seeing him blush like that made her cool off a bit. "You know…" she started, "you can tell girls they smell good, just don't physically say 'You smell good.' It's…" she paused, trying to find a word that wouldn't sound mean, but couldn't think of any, "… kinda weird. Instead, say," she cleared her throat and lowered her voice,"'Is that a new perfume? I like it on you.'"

He looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Oh so that's the thanks I get."

"Well I didn't ask for your help. I don't need it," he said, turning away.

"_Fine. And you try to do something nice for the guy,"_ she thought, scrunching her nose and turning back to him.

"JADEN!" she heard Chazz yell. "You didn't!"

"What!" Jaden answered, holding a pudding cup with a couple others empty around him, "you have like 500 other puddings in there!"

"No I have a limited supply of _seven_…one for each day! And you just ate four!"

"Oh. Sorry," said Jaden, handing back a half-eaten pudding cup.

"Keep that—I don't want it anymore," he pouted, folding his arms and sinking back in his chair. "Why'd you have to steal my Scoop N' Smiles!" he mumbled angrily. Jasmine bursted out laughing, therefore receiving a dirty look from Chazz.

"Sorry," she apologized, not really sorry, but still trying to stop laughing. Meeting eyes with Mindy and Alexis, who saw what happened also, they all started laughing. Realizing Alexis had seen, Chazz immediately sat up in his chair, trying to look more manly in spite of what had just happened, but still unable to take the blush off his cheeks.

* * *


	3. Aha! There's Trouble Afoot

**Disclaimer:** Nothing's changed! I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Now it's Chapter 3! Who's EXCITED? YEAHHH! ...silence... nvm don't answer that. It's still Part One, btw, I'll tell you when it's Part Two. You'll be able to tell anyways. And it's still far away. But I just thought I'd clear that up, even though no one asked.

* * *

"So Jazz, tell us! How was your _date_, hmm?" Mindy questioned eagerly as they all walked into the hotel room after the restaurant. 

Jasmine sighed as she thought back on what happened. "It was PERFECT, what else?"

"Well tell us what happened!" Mindy urged. "I MUST know!"

"Yeah, Jazz, you've been keeping us in the dark long enough! Tell us some juicy details already!" Alexis prodded.

"Alright, alright! I will. Ok, so when we first met up with him, _Mindy_ here decided to make up some lame excuse to leave and I definitely wanted to POUND her for it—" began Jasmine, pausing to give a look at Mindy who just gave her a look right back, and continued, "BUT you know, I do have to thank her for it…I guess…" she finished, unwillingly, knowing Mindy would be smug about it.

"Oh you are quite welcome, dear friend! I could see you needed the help anyways," Mindy joked.

"Ha ha. Real funny. _Anyways_ after that, we played all those fun little carnival games, and I whooped him at that game…I can't remember what it's called…but it had these cute little frogs on these lilypads and they moved and you had to throw the rings around it and the frogs actually ribbited and—"

Mindy scoffed impatiently. "Alright, get to the good stuff already, Jazz! You take forever telling stories!"

Jasmine stuck her tongue out. "Oh and you don't? Well ok, so we were passing the dart game, and there they were, the cute little teddy bears like Mr. Snugglesworth here!" she picked him up from the bed and moved his arms. "And I said, 'Aww those are so cute!' and so he said, 'Then, I'll get you one.' And he did! After like a million times trying to get a bulls-eye. It was so cute…"

"Awww, Jazz. He really wanted to get that for you," Alexis smiled. Jasmine looked at her teddy bear and grinned. "I know."

"So when did he kiss you?" Mindy pressed, trying to get to the good stuff.

"Right before I walked into the restaurant. He asked me if he would see me again, and I said DEFINITELY, of course, and then…he leaned down and kissed me," she said happily.

"Aww!" said Alexis and Mindy together.

"So is he ever gonna come hang out with all of us?" asked Alexis.

"Yeah, when are you gonna see him again?" added Mindy. These questions brought Jasmine back to earth. Now that she thought of it, he had never said when exactly they were going to meet up again…and she felt stupid for not asking.

"Oh, um…well…he just asked if he could see me again, and I said yes, and I was just too happy I didn't think anything of it…" she said, blushing.

"Wait…he didn't tell you?" asked Alexis, raising an eyebrow, her tone of voice changing a bit. Jasmine noticed and went on the defensive.

"No…why is that big deal? I mean, you said so yourself, we're bound to see him again, right?"

"Yeah, but…you don't think it's kinda weird? Don't you think at this point he would've told you a set time and place?"

"Well, I didn't think much of it so maybe he just forgot also or something…"

"Yeah, maybe…" said Alexis, uncertainty obvious in her voice, however. "So did he ever tell you why he left on the beach that day?"

Jasmine was getting annoyed and a bit angry at Alexis with all these questions. "I forgot to ask, ok? Anyways, why are you asking me all this? You're kind of ruining the mood…" she said huffily. Alexis gave her a look.

"Hey, don't get mad at me! I'm not trying to make you feel bad, it's just, you were all sad yesterday about him leaving and I thought he would at least give you some explanation for it…I mean, you shouldn't even have to ask for that, he should've apologized himself. And I thought he would've. I'm sure he's a great guy but I mean...I don't know."

"Yeah you _don't_ know. Just yesterday weren't you encouraging me to go out with Evan? And now you're making him sound like a jerk…what, are saying he doesn't really like me or something?" Jasmine asked, accusingly.

"No! Of course not! I'm just saying—" Alexis began, but was cut off.

"That I can't get a guy? Sorry I'm not _you_, Alexis, who has like a billion guys in love with her. But I didn't think you'd make a big deal just because _one _finally doesn't like you like that."

Alexis frowned, taken aback. "Why are you saying that? You know that's not the reason. It's just you always do this; you find a guy, think he's perfect and that you're in love, and he ends up being a total jerk and you regret ever falling for him. I just want to make sure that's not the case here!"

"Well it's not. I can't believe you're not happy for me."

"I AM happy for you! Forget it, I don't know what I'm talking about. Let's just drop this, ok?" Alexis pleaded.

Jasmine looked away angrily and they all sat in an awkward silence for awhile. Mindy looked at both of them, not knowing what to do, but wanting to break the silence.

"Uh…." She began, searching around her for something—ANYTHING—that may help her. She snatched up a bag of peanuts that were on the bed.

"Sooo uh…peanuts, anyone?"

* * *

The next day Jasmine woke up with a headache and bags under eyes. She had tried unsuccessfully going to sleep early, but ended up staying up for hours later instead, pretending to sleep. Even after Alexis and Mindy had turned the light off and gone to bed, she had unwillingly stayed awake, her eyes wide open in the still darkness. The silence and the fact that she had nothing else to do BUT think led her to do just that…and so she found herself thinking about what Alexis had said; she had gotten mad about it, but she had started rethinking everything. And what she found moments before she finally fell asleep was that Alexis had a point. She _did _rush into relationships, and though Mindy did too, she expected too much from them too fast. And she always chose the wrong guy. But it _was_ kind of weird that Evan never told her anything about what he was doing; and that, come to think of it, she really didn't know anything about his life. 

"_Well, that's my fault, right? I could've asked…"_ she thought now, in Evan's defense, getting angry again at Alexis for spoiling the day and making him seem like a bad guy, like he didn't like her. "_He's NOT,"_ she thought firmly. "_He is different, it's all different this time. He's perfect. And the only thing Alexis was right about was when she said she didn't know what she was talking about."_

She sat up in the bed then, seeing Mindy still sleeping but Alexis at the window, reading a book. The movement caused Alexis to look up, and when she saw Jasmine, her facial expression changed to doubt, as if she was wondering if she was still mad at her. She got her answer when Jasmine, without a word, looked away and turned on the T.V.

* * *

The whole group gathered together as Jasmine, Mindy, and Alexis met up with the guys at the entrance to Kaibaland. It was Opening Day, so it was packed. Despite everything that recently had been going on, Jasmine was determined to have fun. And she _wasn't_ going to talk to Alexis, although she did see her glancing at her from time to time, concern on her face. When she did, it made Jasmine feel sort of bad—she knew Alexis was sorry about everything—but she would quickly shake it off and try to distract herself with other things.

"So where are we going to first?" asked Jasmine, making a point in directing it only at Mindy. Alexis frowned, but walked a little faster and started talking to Jaden, Syrus, and Zane, who were walking in front of them.

Mindy noticed this, but didn't say anything. She figured the whole deal would boil over soon, and things would be back to normal. Plus, she didn't want Jasmine mad at her…though she was starting to agree with Alexis's point of view. "To the Whirlwind!" she yelled, excitedly. "It's over on the other side of the park, and we're just gonna work our way over back to the entrance, and ride every single ride!"

"Ooh! The Whirlwind! Is that the spinning one over there?" Jasmine asked, pointing in the distance.

"Yup! Isn't it awesome?"

"Yeah," she answered, as a group of kids ran out in front of her, all eating cotton candy.

"Aww look at all the little kids! They're so happy to be here!" said Mindy.

"I know! They're so cute!" Jasmine answered.

"No they're not…they're annoying as hell," Chazz mumbled to himself. He had meant for only him to hear it, but Jasmine heard it too, to his dismay.

She turned to him, surprised he had heard her, but still found it necessary for her to comment back. "They are not annoying! They're cute," she refuted.

"No they're _not_. I wouldn't have come if I knew they'd be swarming around like this!" Chazz answered.

"Whatever! I don't believe you. I think you secretly love kids. Just watch…I bet you're gonna have like twenty of them when you grow up."

"Hmph. That's not even possible."

"Not possible!" she exclaimed, mockingly gasping at Mindy, who was watching them, amused. "What's with all the cynicism? You'll make it possible. Besides, I once saw this show about this family, and they had _sixteen_ kids and they all traveled around the country, singing songs and camping out…that's gonna be you."

"Oh yeah! I think I saw that!" Mindy nodded. "Yep, sorry Chazz, but I think Jasmine's right."

"Indeed. We have foreseen your future," Jasmine added.

He looked at her. "You are really weird."

"No…_you're_ weird," she replied, unable to think of a better comeback. She scrunched her nose at how stupid it sounded.

"Oh, that's really mature."

"Well at least I'm not going to have twenty kids when _I_ grow up."

"Luckily for the rest of the world," Chazz mumbled.

Mindy started laughing at that, but stopped when Jasmine flashed her a look. She turned back to him.

"Well, _un_-luckily for the rest of the world, you're gonna be the reason of a world food shortage you're gonna have THAT many kids."

To her surprise, he _laughed _at that. Well, sort of. It wasn't an all out laughter, but still an upgrade from the grunt he let out when she first talked to him on the first day. It was over quickly though, a blink-and-you-missed-it kind of deal; on top of that, he had tried looking away so she wouldn't see. But she hadn't missed it…and she certainly hadn't missed how his eyes crinkled just a _little_ bit around the corners even at such a slight smile. She found herself staring at him now as they walked, a little confused on his character, and wondering why he didn't smile more…

He saw her looking at him. "What?"

"You just laughed."

"…No I didn't."

"Yes...yeah you did," she said slowly, with a look as if she was recalling what happened to make sure.

"No I didn't! Stop talking to me!" He started walking a bit faster.

"Fine," she said curtly. They stayed quiet for a bit. "Why don't you ever laugh?" she asked finally, slightly behind him.

He sighed. "You can't stay quiet or something?"

"No, not really."

"Yeah, I can tell."

"Hmph."

Atticus came up then, three giggling girls in tow. "Hey Chazz! Jazz!" he greeted them. "Hey, wow, ha ha! Did you know your names rhymed? That's awesome! Well technically it's your nickname, Jasmine, but still…if you two got married, you'd be Chazz and Jazz Princeton!" He continued laughing.

Both Chazz and Jasmine widened their eyes, but Atticus had already moved on. "So Chazz, may I introduce these lovely ladies," he paused, as he turned to grin at them, where they—surprise, surprise—started giggling, "Lilly, Wendy, and Francine. Ladies, this is Chazz."

"Hiiii Chazz," they all said, fluttering their fingers as the waved. Jasmine scrunched her nose and rolled her eyes.

"Hi," was all he said back. They smiled, but Lilly and Wendy turned back to Atticus. Francine, however, latched onto his arm. "So Chazz, you go to Duel Academy?"

"Yeah."

"Oooh! I can tell." She squeezed his arm."Your _muscles_ tell me you're a big, strong dueler!"

"_Duel-IST,"_ thought Jasmine, annoyed. But Chazz thought differently as his face turned smug and he turned up his shirt collar.

"Well, yeah… _Actually_ I'm one of the best. But I don't like to brag."

More giggling.

"You know, is that a new perfume? I like it on you."

Jasmine stood with her mouth open and whipped her head around to look at him, as Francine giggled out, "I'm so glad you noticed! Yeah, actually, I got it straight from the designer!" As she said it Chazz looked at Jasmine out of the corner of his eye, and seeing her mouth wide open, he turned quickly away. "_Oh…so she did hear,"_ he thought.

"_I can't believe he just did that! He used my line!"_ she thought. And she just bursted out laughing. _"And he said he didn't need any help…HA!"_

They both turned to her, hearing her random bout of laughter, which was still going on. Francine gave her a weird look and asked Chazz, "Uh…is there something wrong with her?"

Chazz knew exactly what she was laughing about, but tried to pretend he didn't have a clue. "Uh…yeah."

Just then, Francine's little friends Lilly and Wendy came up to her. "Sadly, we have to go!" said Lilly, pouting.

"Aww…well," Francine said, turning to Chazz, "make sure to call me sometime." She winked and slipped him a piece of paper.

"Bye boys! We'll see you around!" called Wendy as all three walked off, hips moving side to side.

"I love this place," said Atticus to Chazz, watching them, then bounded up to Zane to tell him about what he just missed, though he didn't seem very disappointed about it. Jasmine looked at Chazz, smiling smugly.

"You so used my advice back there."

"No, I didn't."

"How can you even say that? I told you that line, and you said, and I quote, 'I don't need any of your help,'" she said, imitating him on the last part. "Ha ha! You don't need my help, my _butt_."

She looked back up and saw him to turn away again, his face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Hmph. I know you know that you did. So you should just give me some credit now," she said smugly.

"Why were you listening in on my conversation _anyway_? You're really nosy, you know that?"

"No I'm not! And hey, stop trying to change the subject!"

"Well you know, it's really none of your business! And how many times have I told you to go away already? Stop following me."

She scoffed at his rudeness.

"_How could anyone even stand this guy?"_ she thought angrily. She could've just gone away right then, but, she had to admit, it was pretty fun getting on his nerves. For once, she didn't care what a guy thought of her; his little I-hate-the-world act was _so_ overdone, she couldn't even take him seriously. Plus, she wasn't going to let him have the last word.

"You used my line." She started laughing again.

"Alright, it's over! Jeez."

"Ok ok, it's over." She paused, then started laughing again. "Ha ha! Nope! It's still funny!" she laughed again and went over to Mindy, who, she realized, had left and was now getting some cotton candy with Bastion.

Chazz watched her walk off. _"Finally…she leaves. And it's NOT funny," _he thought, directing the last part at Jasmine quite unpleasantly. He looked up to see the rest of the group up ahead, still walking.

"_Tch," _he thought impatiently, "_How far IS this stupid ride anyway?"_

* * *

It was late afternoon when the group happily walked out after riding the biggest roller-coaster in the park three times in a row. 

"That was the best!" Jasmine yelled happily. She was really feeling good, and was in high spirits.

"I know! The guy was even gonna let us ride us again, but those people had to get in line!" Alexis answered back just as happy. She quickly frowned, however, when she remembered Jasmine didn't like her very much right now.

Jasmine, though a bit surprised that Alexis had answered her, was still kind of grateful that she did. Honestly, she hated not talking to one of the best friends she had ever had. In fact, she felt stupid for starting a fight like that…

She gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I know! I hate that…" she answered. Alexis smiled back, surprised. "Me too!" she said.

Mindy looked between them. "Yay! You're talking! It took you both long enough!" She smiled and linked arms with both of them. "I'm glad, cause uh…I have something to tell you later!" she whispered excitedly.

"What?" Alexis and Jasmine said together. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Oh…you'll see," Mindy answered, smiling. She skipped off to Bastion, who was with the rest of the group who had decided to stop and talk for a bit. When she reached him, she turned to them, openly pointing at his back and smiling wide. She gave them a little wink, then started talking to him.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with Bastion then, hm?" Alexis laughed.

Jasmine joined in laughing. "Ok, how did he not even notice that?"

They laughed for a bit, then Jasmine looked up at Alexis with a regretful face. "Alexis…I'm really sorry. I've been so stupid with this whole Evan thing…"

"No! I have! I know Evan's a great guy!" Alexis said, apologetically. They smiled at each other.

"I hated not talking to you, you know. I promise I won't do this again!" Jasmine laughed.

"You better not!" Alexis joked, then got a little bit more serious. "I hated you not talking to me too. It's just, you only deserve the best, and I want to make sure he's absolutely _perfect_ before he goes and dates my best friend." She smiled then, nudging Jasmine, who smiled back. She was about to say something back when their conversation was interrupted.

"Jasmine?" said a voice. Both girls looked up and saw it was Evan.

"Evan! Hi!" said Jasmine cheerfully. Alexis greeted him too.

"So are you two having fun?" he said, smiling.

"Yeah! We're here with the whole group!" answered Jasmine. He suddenly looked a bit surprised at that bit of information.

"You mean…it's not just you two?" he asked absently, his eyes not on them anymore and instead moving around, as if he was searching for something. Jasmine didn't notice it.

"No! Why would just be us two? Hey, I know! You can come and meet them!" said Jasmine, excitedly.

"Oh…well…I'm kind of in a hurry…" he said nervously.

"You are? What for?" asked Alexis, obviously suspicious. He looked quickly away, then back again.

"Never mind…let's go meet your friends!" he said, back to his cheerful tone, and put his arm around Jasmine. They walked to the group. Mindy saw them first.

"Oh! Hey, Evan!" she said nicely.

"Everyone, this is Evan! And Evan, this is…" she introduced everyone in the group, who all politely said "hi" or a "nice to meet you." When she got to Chazz, however, things were a little…strange.

"And this is Chazz," she said unenthusiastically, meaning for it to be a quick introduction since she and Chazz weren't exactly _friends_ here. After she said it, she looked back at Evan, and was surprised by the look on his face, as he was smirking oddly, and his eyes somewhat narrowed.

"Hi. Nice to meet you…Chazz," he said, sticking his hand out for a shake, smirk plastered on his face.

She looked at Chazz, who stood there, eyes narrowed and arms folded, with a darkened expression on his face. He stayed silent and didn't even budge. The two guys just stood there, looking straight at eachother.

"_What's going on?"_ she thought suspiciously, taken aback as she looked between the two of them. Evan then put down his hand and turned to Jasmine.

"Huh…nice guy…" he said to her. She tried smiling, but ended up forcing it. It was weird what just happened.

"_Chazz isn't really the most sociable guy but…that look on his face…"_ she thought, glancing back at him as Evan steered her away to go talk to everyone else. He began talking animatedly to everyone else, and made them all laugh.

She shook her thought off, convincing herself Chazz was just being a jerk, like always. She looked at Evan, who had just made everyone laugh again. Even Zane had the slightest smirk on his face, though he was shaking his head.

"_He really is a great guy…"_ she thought, looking at him and smiling.

* * *

Chazz lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He was there alone, as Atticus and Zane had gone off somewhere with the rest of the group. He was able to sneak off and come back to the hotel. 

"Why the hell is he here?" he said out loud, bitterly. He couldn't believe it—he just couldn't.

His Ojamas popped out and look sullenly at him; a bit out of character for them, but they knew the seriousness of the situation.

"I _knew_ I saw him that day on the beach. Like a coward he ran away, too. And, you know what he did today? He pretended like he didn't even KNOW me…he stuck out his hand for me to shake it…he's got some nerve…" He clenched his teeth.

"Does this mean your brothers are here, too?" asked Ojama Yellow.

Chazz looked away. "It has to."

He paused for a bit. "He's got everyone believing he's some great, nice guy, too. Named Evan. Can you believe that! They don't even have a clue…"

"He had his arm around that girl…are you talking about her?" Ojama Green asked.

"Jasmine?" said Ojama Black. "She's Alexis's friend, right? I like her!"

Chazz tensed up. "Why would you think I'd be talking about _her_? I'm talking about _everyone_ here! But she's the stupidest, dating him and all. Though I don't expect much from her anyway. I bet he hasn't even told her anything about himself, and if he did, he lied. And she fell for it. If you ask me, Alexis needs to find better—and smarter—friends."

"Well, don't you think you ought to tell her who he really is then?" asked Ojama Yellow.

"No. Why should I? If she's stupid enough to like him, then she can have him. She wouldn't believe me anyway."

"How do you know she won't believe you? You don't have to like her to tell her you know…it's just the right thing to do," said Yellow. Green and Black both nodded.

"I don't have to do _anything_…" he mumbled, and turned away and closed his eyes.

"So you're just going to leave her with him? Are you even going to tell anyone who he is, Boss?" asked Yellow.

"Go away…I'm sleeping." The three Ojamas looked at each other but didn't press any further.

"_I **can't** tell anybody…"_ he thought. _"I'd have to tell them about my past…"_

And that was something he'd rather forget.

* * *

Chapter 3! And no reviews! I think I'm the only one reading this story...but it will go on! Just because. Anyways please review, even to leave constructive criticism! I encourage it. So that show about the traveling with sixteen kids is real, it's called "on the road with 16 kids," but I sure don't know how they came up with that clever name (sarcastic), or if they really sing songs and all. I saw it advertised but I didn't watch it. Now I think I will. Oh and yeah, have I told you to review yet? 


	4. The Truth Comes Out

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

A humongous thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed, and to everyone who is reading. I really do appreciate it! Anyways, here's chapter 4.

* * *

Jasmine woke up late the next day feeling happier than she had in awhile. The day had before had been nothing less than perfect: the theme park had been fun, she had made up with Alexis, and she had gotten to see Evan again. Everything was definitely going right.

"_Especially with Evan," _she thought, smiling as she remembered the events of the previous day. They had all gone to dinner—_"Though Chazz had mysteriously disappeared for some reason…it wasn't important anyway,"_ she thought—and at the end of it all Evan had told her she was the most incredible girl he had ever met, and that, if she was up to it, he wanted to make their relationship official, so that he could keep contact with her even after she had gone back to the academy. Of course she said yes; she had never met a sweeter, more romantic guy, and had _never_ been more swept off her feet. Not that she needed more convincing, but it also helped that he gave her another kiss, which was, to put it lightly, _not _the innocent peck she had gotten the first time.

"You're up, finally!" cried Mindy. "Now we don't have to stay quiet anymore!"

"Yeah, when you wake up after Mindy, that's saying something," Alexis joked.

Jasmine yawned, beating off the drowsiness as quickly as she could. "Yeah well…we did stay up pretty late last night. What time is it now?"

"One forty-five," answered Alexis.

"In the _afternoon_," added Mindy pointedly.

"Oh, _really?_ Thank you for pointing that out dear Mindy, I never would have guessed, even with the blinding sun outside shining through the window," Jasmine answered, her tone so mockingly affable she was sure it would grate on her irritated friend's nerves.

"Well, you think you've slept enough, woman?" she snapped back.

"Yes, I have. And thank you for being so pleasant this morning."

"It's the afternoon," she corrected, Jasmine rolling her eyes back at her. "Anyways, now that you're up, we can go _do _something. I'm tired of this hotel room already."

"Yeah," said Alexis, crossing her legs Indian-style as she sat on her bed. "How about we go out for lunch?"

"Perfect! Let's go!" Mindy jumped up and ran to the door.

"Wait! I have to get ready! Geez, Mindy, a little patience wouldn't hurt, you know…" Jasmine grumbled as she walked to the bathroom.

By the time the three friends got back to the hotel after their outing, the weather had drastically changed; the sun had disappeared behind some dark clouds, and it was clear that it would rain soon. The sudden shift in the weather didn't mesh well with the girls, who had to cut their time outside short because of it. But once they had piled into the room, they settled themselves comfortably on their beds, since it looked as though it would be an afternoon indoors for now.

"Hmph. The sun's gone…" said Mindy resentfully as she looked out the window. "Well at least we did something fun while it lasted." She turned to Alexis and Jasmine, suddenly smiling, as if she had just remembered something.

"Oh! I have something to tell you!" she said happily.

"What?" asked Jasmine. Alexis looked just as puzzled.

She stared back at them incredulously. "Don't tell me you've both forgotten!" They only looked at each other, then back.

"You know, about me and Bastion?" she pressed. Looks of realization suddenly dawned on their faces, as they recalled the time in the park yesterday when Mindy had pointed him out.

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Alexis.

"Well, then, tell us about it!" added Jasmine excitedly.

Mindy took her place on her bed proudly, quite delighted that she was now the center of attention.

"Well, hm, where should I start?" she began. "I don't even remember how we started talking! Oh yeah, I do! Never mind, I remember!" she giggled.

"_So tell us already_," Jasmine thought impatiently. She knew that whenever Mindy took too long to start her stories, it would take too long to finish them too. May as well sit back, since this was certainly not going to be one of Alexis's quick run-throughs.

"It was before we even rode the first ride," continued Mindy. "He was there, just walking around all by himself like he had no friends. So I thought, hey, _I'm_ not doing anything, and he's not doing anything, why don't I change that? Turns out not only is he a major hottie, he's funny and really sweet…and his little British accent is so cute, you know? I love guys with accents!"

She paused, smiling, as if she were lost in thought about the man himself. When she finally realized Alexis and Jasmine were looking at her with knowing smiles she quickly continued.

"And then, we passed by the cotton candy stand, and I said, 'Oh! Cotton candy!' and then he asked me if I would like some, so I said yes. So we stopped there, and I picked what I wanted and as I was about to pay for my own, he stopped me and said, 'Oh no! Here, _I'll _pay,'" Mindy said, making her imitation of Bastion's quote as gracious and courteous as possible. She smiled wide, and flipped her hair, obviously trying to stress the fact that her charms had once again won over a man.

"And he _insisted _on it. _What _a gentleman, if I do say so myself."

"That he is," agreed Alexis. "You know he's never burped in front of me once? Can't say that for the rest of the guys." Her face scrunched up. "I once stepped in front of Jaden at the wrong time when he let out a big one in my face."

"Ew! Thanks for the fact, Alexis," Jasmine groaned.

"I think that gives Bastion some added points then," Mindy said to Alexis, who nodded in complete agreement, before continuing on about Bastion and the oh-so-enchanting conversation they shared. By the time she got to the final point, Jasmine was _sure_ an hour had passed.

"So then, when I went up to him that second time, after I talked to you two, he had been busy talking to Jaden and the others. But when _I _started talking to him, he smiled at me and turned all his attention to me. Like he should, you know. Later he asked me if I wanted to hang out with him sometime…just the two of us," she finished triumphantly, smiling wide.

"Oh that's great!" said Jasmine happily. "I mean, you said yes, right?"

"Of course I said yes!" she answered.

"Good. You better have. I haven't really liked many of the guys you've dated, but _finally _you've made a good decision. Bastion is a really great guy," said Alexis.

"Yeah, he is," agreed Mindy, smiling again. "But we're not exactly dating yet…"

"Well, I think you will be," said Alexis.

"I sure wouldn't mind that!" Mindy agreed. "And one more thing: he pulled out the chair for me at dinner. He's so considerate. _And_ he's smart—like I mean, _smart _smart—without being boring…well ok, so I'm not really listening when he's talking about science-y things, but whatever. Sometimes he'll be funny without even trying to be. And when he smiles, he gets these cute little dimples," she paused, sighing. "You know those little quirks guys sometimes have when they smile?"

"Yeah…like when Chazz smiled, his eyes sort of crinkled at the corners," said Jasmine, remembering the time he had kind-of-sort-of laughed—or scoffed, really, if she wanted to get specific, but laughed just sounded better, didn't it? In any case, she had meant it only as an example, but the room suddenly got dead quiet and Mindy and Alexis were now staring at her, surprise clear on their faces.

"_Really?_" Mindy asked teasingly, with a slight smile. "And just _how_, may I ask, did you come across this little detail?"

Jasmine blushed, when she realized how it had sounded when she had said what she did, and what her friends were probably thinking right now. Her eyes widened. "I was just saying it as an example! I-I didn't mean anything by it, no big deal!" she quickly said.

Mindy and Alexis exchanged looks. "You think he's cute…" Mindy then said in a sing-song voice.

"No, I don't!"

"Well, you did use it as an example of a cute guy quirk," Alexis pointed out.

"I don't think it's cute. I mean, well it is…but not on him!"

"That doesn't even make sense. Either you think he's cute or you don't, you can't say both," Mindy retorted. "Come on, just admit what we know already."

"Well, ok. So he's a good-looking guy, so what? I don't mean anything! I mean, even _he _knows he's good-looking," she answered. Mindy and Alexis just smiled more.

"He's single, you know," Alexis joked.

"I told you, I don't care," Jasmine said stubbornly. "And anyway, doesn't he have a crush on _you_?"

"Whoa, Alexis. Watch out for her, I think she's getting jealous," goaded Mindy.

"I'm not! You can think a guy's good-looking without liking him, you know," she added angrily while folding her arms, and when she saw Mindy's doubtful face, "And, _yes_, I am capable of doing that."

"Well, I did see you talking to him before you came up to me and Bastion yesterday…is _that_ where you were taken by his charming smile and eye crinkles?" said Mindy, teasing Jasmine again as she and Alexis laughed.

"Honestly, I didn't even know Chazz _could_ smile," added Alexis. "Are you sure he wasn't just picking his teeth or something?"

Jasmine instantly lunged at this suggestion. "You know, I wouldn't doubt it," she said quickly. "Sure looked like it…yeah, that must have been it! Silly me." She laughed insanely, and the two other girls clearly didn't buy it.

"I was actually just joking with that," said Alexis. "But if that really was the case…" She trailed off, unconvinced.

"Of course that wasn't the case! From what _I _saw, it looked like those two were about to jump each other any second—"

Jasmine could feel her face flush. "That is _not_ true, Mindy, and you know it! Stop laughing, you guys! Do you even know what we were talking about? He kept telling me to go away…it was totally lame…" she said, but it was to no use, as her friends were ignoring her protests.

"_I don't like him,_" she repeated in her head, but she was beginning to feel a creeping sense of doubt. Why else would she think something like that about him? Her face was getting hot; she had to get out. Now. Her friends wouldn't stop laughing so she got up and headed for the door.

"Hey, don't get mad, we're just kidding!" Mindy said, as she realized Jasmine had gotten up.

"Yeah, we know you don't like Chazz," added Alexis quickly, hoping Jasmine wasn't mad at her again.

"I'm not mad. I just…want to go out for a walk for a bit."

"A walk? But it's about to rain! That's—" began Mindy, but stopped when Alexis nudged her.

"Ok, but take your jacket, it _is _about to rain," said Alexis.

Jasmine smiled. "Alright, mother," she said, walking out and putting the jacket on.

Once the door closed behind her, Mindy automatically turned to Alexis. "Is she mad? I was only kidding…" she said guiltily. Alexis just shrugged in answer as she looked at the door where Jasmine had just left. But she was starting to wonder if maybe…

She shook off the thought. "So…what should we do now?" she asked, changing the subject and turning back to Mindy.

* * *

"Chaaaazzzz!"

"Argh! I told you already, NO."

"But you have to, it's your duty, Boss!"

"It doesn't affect me."

"Yes it does! Go and tell her who he is!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Chazz folded his arms angrily and slumped further into the bed. His Ojamas, especially his Yellow, wouldn't leave him alone and he was just about at the end of his rope. He had never been more serious about the thought of throwing them out than he was at this very moment, and if they didn't stop talking soon, he wouldn't think twice about doing so.

"Well fine, but, at _least _go outside! You've been in this stuffy hotel room all day. Oh, I know! Let's go out and dance!" said Ojama Yellow happily while shaking his behind around emphatically, as his brothers joined in.

"Ooh, great idea! I love dancing!" agreed Ojama Green.

"Dancing? Somebody say…DANCING?" added Ojama Black excitedly.

"C'mon, Boss! Everybody's doing it!" cried Yellow as he began bumping hips with Green.

"Wha-What are you _doing_? Stop! And no, I do _not_ want to go _dancing_."

"Don't want to go dancing? How could you not! We'll only be going just outside! Don't you ever just go out and dance? It's very therapeutic, I hear."

"_What would be therapeutic would be wringing your neck right about now," _he thought, but his answer was left as an overly sarcastic comment that was so absurd he was sure even his Ojamas would get the point and shut up…

"Oh yeah, actually I do it all the time."

"_Really?_ How come I've never seen you?" questioned Yellow in shock, while Green added a bit offended, "Yeah and how come he's never invited us?" in the background to Black.

…But then again, since when have his Ojamas ever gotten the point?

"Because I _don't_! Don't you have any _sarcasm_?"

Yellow looked with a puzzled expression at his brothers, who shrugged.

"I think it's some kind of sauce," whispered Black.

"Oh, are you hungry Chazz?"

He stared at them. "_Why _do I keep you all again?" he groaned.

"'Cause we're a blast to hang out with, of course! Aren't we, boys?" said Yellow excitedly to his brothers, who both agreed enthusiastically, before turning back to Chazz. "So are we going dancing or what?"

"No! _Definitely_ not," Chazz shuddered. He had clearly given up and decided the only way he could escape their torture was to concede to their whims. "Fine, I'll go outside…for only a walk. _No_ dancing!"

The three Ojamas stopped moving and pouted. "Ok…fine," said Ojama Yellow as he and his brothers followed Chazz out the door.

"Hey, who said you guys could come?"

"Aw, that's Boss! Always the joker."

* * *

Jasmine walked slowly around the hotel courtyard, as it was the closest place to her hotel room that was in the least bit interesting. Nobody was outside except for a few little kids laughing and playing on a playground a little ways away. She watched as their mother came and told them it was time to leave, it would probably rain soon, and then scold them sternly when they refused her order. Jasmine smiled and looked at the sky, which was, as the mother rightly stated, getting darker from the impending rain, and then at the big lake for a bit, which was black and still from the lack of activity.

By the time she looked back at the playground, the kids were gone and it was quiet. Figuring she should make use of the place now that it was empty, she walked over to one of the swings and sat on it, pushing off and swinging slowly as she thought back on…the _incident_…at the hotel room.

What had she been thinking? Why in the world had she said what she did? And, strangest of all, why had she felt so…_exposed_?

_Did _she like Chazz? Could his eye crinkles really have pushed her over the edge that much? Did she _like _Chazz? Could that really be the case?

Of course it couldn't, she thought decisively. Ridiculous. It was true that there were a lot of things Jasmine didn't know, but how to have a crush on a boy _certainly _was not one of them. She had gone through quite a number of them in her lifetime, and not one—not _one_—of them had ever put her in denial. She knew when she liked a guy—she was the girl who other people clamored to for dating advice because she knew all there was to know, the girl who could write a best-selling _manual_ on dating, if she so wished. And now here she was, doubting herself. There was something wrong with this picture.

She crossed her arms stubbornly. She liking Chazz? Please. There were certain guidelines required for her to fall for a guy, and social ineptness mixed with big hair was not one of them. She did _not_ like Chazz, for crying out loud!

As soon as she said it, she felt a little flutter of uneasiness in her stomach, the kind of feeling she often felt whenever Mindy barged into the room and caught her singing. Ok, she admitted unwillingly, her face scrunching up along with it, _maybe_ a couple months ago she wouldn't have been totally against the idea of liking him—but now that she had actually talked to the guy and seen first-hand how he was really like, she had come to realize that what people said about him was true. He was rude, proud, obnoxiously full of himself, and…fine, so he was sort of an attractive guy…with a sort of nice smile, if he showed it once and a while…_which_ he never did, so she wouldn't have to worry about seeing it again anyway.

Therefore, she couldn't have been _taken _by it, as Mindy so unjustly put it. She was just a little surprised by it, that's all. Anyone would have been with a guy who wore a scowl as much as he did.

Plus, she was certain she had heard that he hadn't won a _single_ duel in three whole months. How sad. Sure, she hadn't won one either…but she wasn't the one parading around pretending that she had. His unjustified arrogance was _way_ too annoying.

But then, if that was the case…why was she even still thinking about him?

"_Argh! Stop!" _she told herself. _"I like Evan, anyways, so it's physically impossible to like someone like Chazz. They're **completely** different. Evan, for one, does not treat me like I was gum stuck on his shoe. **He** treats me like a lady."_

She satisfied herself with that answer. "Yeah, that's right," she said out loud, raising her voice a little louder as she spoke again, triumphantly. "I like Evan!"

She felt loads better as she stood up, remembering the _fabulous _past week she had spent with Evan and laughing at herself for thinking such a thing as _liking _Chazz. She grimaced at the thought. He was actually looking significantly less cute as each minute passed. What could she have possibly been thinking before? He was much too tall, and too lanky. His eyes were too dull of a color. And, come to think of it, his nose was a little too pointy for her taste.

_Evan_ was just the right height. _Evan_ had muscle enough to make any girl swoon (too bad he's off-limits, she smirked.) Evan's beautiful eyes were a shade of blue she was sure hadn't been discovered yet. And, best of all, Evan had a _perfect_ nose. She wouldn't have to worry about her eyes getting poked out if he kissed her.

Now she just felt stupid for doubting herself, and for making such a scene to her friends…if she wanted to disprove Mindy's accusation she should've acted like nothing was wrong. Completely calm and cool. Simple as that.

"_I wouldn't even be thinking about all this at all if it weren't for Mindy," _she thought, a bit angry. _"It's all her fault." _

* * *

Chazz trudged around, bored and uninterested, looking out at the lake only because if he looked anywhere else he would be forced to watch three over zealous yellow, green, and black balls of annoyance bouncing around everywhere. Naturally, the lake won. And it actually may have been a peaceful walk, a perfect time to calm his nerves, if his Ojamas hadn't insisted on coming. Now, they wouldn't shut up.

"Ooh! Look at the lake, Boss!" said Yellow in amazement.

"It's so biiig!" added Green.

"And you all see the ocean practically everyday. What's the big deal?" mumbled Chazz, who went ignored.

"Look at the sky!" said Black.

"It's so biiig!" repeated Green.

"I think it's going to rain soon. My left big toe is tingling!" exclaimed Yellow.

"And your left big toe always tingles when it's about to rain!" gasped Black.

"Without faiiil!" he answered back proudly, lifting up his foot and wiggling his toe for all to see.

"Oh and I bet the dark clouds up in the sky didn't give you a hint," answered Chazz, more than annoyed as he turned away from the foot in his face. "Put that down!"

His Ojama Yellow followed the order, but instead of adding some irritating comment to go with it, he suddenly got oddly quiet; in fact, all three of his Ojamas were now dead silent, if you counted out the heavy breathing. It was enough to instantly catch Chazz's attention—and alarm—and he quickly turned to find them looking off somewhere.

Yellow gasped happily. "Well I'll be!"

"What?" asked Chazz curiously as he looked off to where they were looking and saw a playground, with a girl swinging slowly on one of the swings. When he finally recognized _who_ it was and why his Ojamas were getting excited, he quickly shut them down.

"No. And I know what you're thinking, and I _won't_."

"Why not? This is a perfect time! And she's alone so nobody else would have to hear you!" said Yellow, trying to convince him.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't just come up to her and tell her the guy she's dating is some lying son of a—"

"Yes you can, Boss!" answered Yellow, admiration sparkling in his eye. "You can do _anything_."

Green and Black nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! We _believe _in you, Boss!"

"Well, ain't that dandy. I don't care—"

"Chazz it up…Chazz it up…" Yellow began chanting, cutting him off, as Green and Black joined in. "Chazz it up…Chazz it—!"

"Alright, alright! Stop that! I thought I told you all you weren't allowed to do the chant."

"Well, you should know that we support you _all_ the way, and—!"

"Ok, I get it, you support me, you love me, yadda yadda," he said gruffly. "Fine…I'll go do it, but as _strictly_ an act of duty, and to get you all to shut up for once. I'm not doing this because I like her, got it?"

"Got it," all three answered.

"It's an act of a good Samaritan!" added Yellow happily.

"No, that still sounds sappy. It's just an act, k? That's it," Chazz answered grumpily, as he began walking towards Jasmine, who was now out of the swing and by the edge of the lake, totally oblivious.

"_Why am I doing this again?" _he thought angrily, as he neared the edge of the lake.

It was shorter walk to her than anticipated however, and now, he didn't know what to do as he stood behind her. He took a careful step forward, cursing himself as he cracked a stick that had been laying there. She jumped in fright and whipped around.

"Chazz?" she said, surprised to see _him _of all people there. As she should, he thought. Even _he_ was surprised it was him standing there.

He froze in place as she stared, and stayed silent. So what was it exactly that he was supposed to say now?

"_This is probably something I should've thought of before…stupid Ojamas…why'd I let them talk me into this?" _he thought. _"They're so getting it later!" _

He looked at her, she looked back, and both just stood there, and stared some more. After a bit more awkward silence she started to shift around uncomfortably.

"Uh…Boss? This would probably be a good time to start talking…" said Yellow.

"Shut up…" Chazz mumbled.

Jasmine stared, offended. "Um, what? I didn't say anything."

"No, uh…not you. Me, I mean, shut up to me," he tried to explain, but only made things less sense. He was making a fool out of himself, and for what? He had never talked to this girl before, and had only ever known her to be just "another one of Alexis's friends," so what did he care if she went out with the guy he hated most? She didn't know that, so what did it matter? He could just leave her with him.

No…he knew that wouldn't be right. Damn his moral conscience. He should just come right out and tell her…yeah…just get it over with. It was either _that_, or leave now without another word and forevermore have her think him a madman. No, he had a reputation to uphold…he'll just tell her…

She shifted around some more, looking slightly like she regretted using such a harsh tone before. "Oh…well, why—?" she began, but was soon interrupted.

"He's not who you think he is."

She was startled by his sudden outburst, and told him so with a weird look. "Who?" she asked, looking around confused, and only seeing an old man ambling up the sidewalk. "That guy?"

He glanced at the old man. "Tch, no, not that guy. I mean, that guy you're with, Evan…or whatever he's calling himself."

"Evan?" she echoed, even more flustered than before. "What are you talking about, you're not making any sense."

No _sense_? He was making perfect sense! It was _her_ fault she was mixing in innocent old men and not listening to a word he was saying! Would he be forced to write it down on paper and shove it in her face just for her to understand?

"I mean, he's not who you think he is!" he replied, raising his voice, as his temper was rising in reply to her incompetence. "His name isn't even Evan! It's Adrian Richmond, he works for my brothers and he's been lying to you the second he met you!"

As his words dawned on her, her features slowly changed from confusion to confusion and anger as she entered the threshold of comprehension. It was then that her eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with you? That isn't funny," she answered, backing away from him unwarily like he was a criminal. "Why would you tell me something like that?"

"Because it's just a teensy bit important to know that you're dating a fraud, don't you think?"

"I-I don't believe you…why would he lie to me over something like that? That's stupid…that doesn't even make sense!"

"I don't know, why don't you ask _him_? Maybe he thinks you have a lot of money or something, since you go to Duel Academy, I don't know. Heh, wouldn't doubt it, that seems to motivate him enough…"

"What does that have to do with anything? Besides I'm there on a scholarship and…" She stopped abruptly, as if she didn't want to tell him something, and looked at him skeptically as she continued. "Why am I telling you this? What's your connection with him anyway?"

That was where he drew the line. She wasn't going to get any information further than what he already gave her, no matter how nosy she was.

_Especially_ because of how nosy she was.

"I don't need to tell you the whole story. All you need to know is that he's a thief and a cheater, and a liar."

"No he's not!" she argued defensively. "What have you got against him anyway, to falsely accuse him of some—!"

Chazz laughed bitterly. "_Falsely _accuse him? I wonder what he's told you to make you believe he's such a great guy. How could I make up something like this? _Why_ would I even do that?"

"W-well…I-I don't know!" she sputtered. "How am I supposed to rationalize a _crazy_ _person_?"

"Oh, _I'm_ the crazy one?"

"Yeah, you are. I can't even begin to understand why Alexis hangs out with you. You hardly even know Evan, and still, you have been nothing but rude to him, when he's trying to be nice to you. And you don't even deserve it! How can you come to me and tell me something like this? No—how _dare_ you?" she lashed out furiously, shaking her head as she started walking off fast. "And for the record, I don't believe anything you're saying!"

"Fine! And _for the record,_" he mimicked, "I don't care! You two actually deserve each other!" He finished yelling at her back. He then angrily turned to his Ojamas, who were now huddled together, shaken by the fight.

"Yeah, that was a really good idea, guys," he spat out.

* * *

Jasmine ran back to the hotel room as it started to rain, and rushed inside. She closed the door and leaned against it, breathing hard. She was instantly grateful when she saw Alexis and Mindy were not in the room; instead, she noticed that there was a small note on the table.

_Hey Jazz!_

_Mindy and I just went out to get some ice cream with the guys. Bring you back some!_

_Alexis_

She put it back down after reading it, only to pick it up again and reread the simple letter over when she hadn't remembered what it said. She was too lost in her thoughts.

"_What was he talking about? What did he mean?"_ she thought, putting a hand up to her head, all sorts of emotions at once._ "It's not true…it can't be! It's way too ridiculous!"_

How was she supposed to _take_ news like this? _"It's too crazy," _she thought. _"He's such a jerk…why would he tell me something like that? What would he gain by telling me this!" _By now she was more than furious at Chazz, and steadfastly refusing to believe one word.

She sank into her bed, her regular clothes still on.

"_I hate him," _she thought bitterly, as she closed her eyes.


	5. Madame Umberta Never Lies, Dearie

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX and wont EVER in my life! It's the blunt truth. (cries in corner)

Heyy! THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! I love them! Thank you thank you thank you! (blows kisses, everyone ducks) "Too much love! Stop it!" Ahem, fine I will. Anyways, here's Chapter 5!

* * *

Chazz walked back into the hotel room cold and soaking wet, and in the worst mood ever. He hadn't been able to escape the falling rain, which now was pouring in sheets outside. He shut the door quickly, causing Atticus and Zane to look up.

"Hey, where've you been?" asked Atticus, and when he realized how drenched Chazz was, "And what happened to _you_?"

"It's raining outside, obviously."

"I _know_ that, but why were you out in the rain?"

"Just out for a walk," Chazz answered shortly while grabbing a towel to dry up a bit.

Atticus looked at Zane with a raised eyebrow, who shrugged silently and went back to reading his book. "Well…you could've been dry and happy if you had come with us to get some ice cream. Why didn't you want to go?" Atticus asked.

"Just didn't feel like it."

"Hmph. Lately you haven't felt like to doing _anything_ with us. You're on a vacation, you know. Why don't you loosen up a bit, and start having some fun? And start acting your age—"

"Acting my age, huh? I don't need to, ok?" Chazz snapped angrily, interrupting Atticus. "I've got more _important_ things on my mind right now than stupid theme parks and ice cream—and if _you_ started acting _your_ age, you'd realize you have more important things too than going out partying all the time." He stomped into the bathroom and slammed the door. The sound of the shower being turned on followed soon after.

"What's up with _him_?" asked Atticus, turning to Zane.

"Not sure. But maybe you should leave him alone for awhile," he answered back without looking up from his book.

"Yeah whatever. But we're on vacation, we're _supposed_ to be partying. Anyways we only went out for ice cream! Though I guess that's considered pretty hardcore in _his_ book," said Atticus, throwing a dirty look at the bathroom door. Zane just shrugged.

"Hmph. You're no help. I'll leave him alone, but a this rate, he's gonna need some serious, serious help later in life."

* * *

Jasmine woke up feeling bothered…something very light was tickling her nose. Eyes still closed she quickly reached up to scratch it and promptly felt something cold and wet land on her face…and then, incessant giggling. She immediately opened her eyes to find—Mindy lying on the other bed, laughing her butt off with a can of shaving cream in her hand.

"Mindy!" she yelled, wiping the cream off her face with her clean hand.

"Haha—Sorry Jazz, I mean, it was too good to pass up—haha! That was priceless, just too good!—well at least now you're awake!" Mindy answered back in between laughs.

Jasmine whipped some of the cream back at Mindy, earning a "Hey!" from her. She turned to Alexis.

"And you didn't try to stop her?"

"No, not really."

"Wow you two are great friends."

"Only the best! I mean, only a wonderful friend would use her _own _Apricot Melon _scented_ shaving cream, and not the generic brand," said Mindy matter-of-factly. "Just a little gift from me so you won't wake up at one forty-five this time."

Jasmine rolled her eyes at her. Now that she was awake, thoughts of what had happened the day before came flooding in, but she shook them off. She was grateful her friends showed no signs of bringing up the subject, and hoped they wouldn't, either. She didn't want to have to deal with it. In fact, she didn't want to think about it at all. It was not going to ruin her day. So she turned to her friends with a big smile.

"Sooo, now that I'm _awake_," she said, giving a look to Mindy, "what are we going to do today?"

* * *

"Anyways, Jasmine, you should've been there with us while we went to get ice cream last night. It was really fun!" Mindy said happily as the three friends sat and ate at an outdoor table at a small café.

"Yeah, I bet it was. I'll go next time," Jasmine answered.

"You better! ALL the guys were there—actually, well, I noticed Chazz wasn't, but the rest of the guys were…hmm, I wonder where he was?" Mindy began, pausing.

Jasmine felt herself tense up. _"He was out being a jerk, that's what,"_ she thought angrily, then taking a breath when she remembered what she promised herself. _"Just don't think about it…DON'T think about it…"_

Mindy continued. "Anyways, that's besides the point. So we went to this great place where they mix the ice cream right there in front of you! And it tasted amazing…didn't it Alexis?" Mindy said excitedly.

"Yeah, it did. We brought some back for you, Jazz, by the way. Chocolate chip cookie dough…your favorite!"

"Thanks! That sounds good."

"Yeah it is, trust me. Anyways the guys all looked incredibly good, I must say—" said Mindy, getting cut off by Alexis.

"You said that last night too! It's just you Mindy, they all looked like they usually do."

"Uhh, that's exactly my case, duh! But I swear Atticus's hair was browner than usual…and not poop brown, _chestnut_ brown. And has he been working out? Because wow, his pecs were—"

"Can we not talk about my brother's pecs? It's weird."

"Oh yeah, that's right, it would be weird for you. Well then, how about we talk about _Jaden's_ pecs, hm? You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"No! Can we not talk about _anybody's _pecs?" Alexis exclaimed.

"Yeah, Mindy, you're so weird. Anyways I thought you liked Bastion now," said Jasmine.

Mindy sighed, smiling. "Oh…I do. He looked the best out of all of them." She looked off and was in her own world for a bit. Jasmine and Alexis just stared at her for awhile, until she realized it.

"Oh!" she said, turning back to them, remembering something. "Did you know this Friday—that's tomorrow actually!—there's going to be a big party for the end of the grand opening of Kaibaland? It's gonna be at the Grand Square. Anyways, there's going to be fireworks, food, music, FIREWORKS, and the Kaiba brothers are going to make speeches or something, obviously because it's their theme park and all…but doesn't that sound fun?"

"Yeah, it does," said Alexis as they all got up, finished with their meal.

"Yeah, Bastion told me all about it. _And_ he asked me to be his date! He was so cute when he asked me, he was sort of blushing and—"

"Wait, we need dates to this?" interrupted Jasmine, surprised.

"Well no, but…it just makes it all the more fun! And sooo romantic…I mean, there's gonna be fireworks! But why are you worried about that? You can just go with Evan, right?"

"Oh, yeah…of course! Evan, yeah. I'm not worried, I was just wondering! Evan's perfect. Yeah, I can go with him…" said Jasmine quickly, trying to laugh it off. But for some reason she was feeling a little uneasy about that…and she was surprised to find herself thinking that maybe…she _didn't_ want to go with Evan…

"_Cut it out Jasmine! Of COURSE you want to go with Evan! What Chazz said isn't true!" _she reminded herself. She looked away when she noticed Alexis giving her a weird look, probably from the rushed answer she just gave. Mindy hadn't noticed, however, and continued.

"Hmm…let's see, what should we do now?" she said as she looked around for something of interest. "We could go shopping…some of these stores look pretty goo—" She was cut off when a deep woman's voice boomed,

"Greetings, young souls. Madame Umberta's mystical crystal ball can show you your future…if you dare to learn it…"

They looked the side where a rotund woman wearing a sparkling turban and matching cape was sitting at a small table with a glowing crystal ball.

Mindy gasped. "OH! A fortune teller! Let's get our fortunes told!"

"Oh please. She's only going to feed us some chockload of nothing that's so vague it could go for anybody. You don't really believe this stuff, do you?" scoffed Jasmine.

"Yes, I love this stuff! Aw come on, at least let ME get one!"

"Please, take a seat," said the woman to Mindy, who ran up to her, as she waved her arm gracefully in the direction of the chair across from her. Mindy sat down, turned around to her friends and whispered, "This is so cool!" and turned back. Jasmine rolled her eyes, and Alexis smiled, as they stood off to the side.

"I am the great Madame Umberta…and what is your name, young one?"

"_Is she serious?"_ thought Jasmine raising an eyebrow, thinking the whole thing was ridiculous.

"Mindy."

"Ah…Mindy," Madame Umberta repeated as she squinted at her face. "Yeeees…you are quite a spirited one, are you not? You thrive on adventure, and are most ambitious…yet you are quick to be bored, and need constant excitement, I can see it in your eyes."

Mindy stayed silent, but it was evident she was completely enthralled in the woman's words.

"This can be a good quality, as you are one who brings life to everyone you meet…but it can also be bad, as you must be careful to not let the ones that care about you most be left behind." Umberta began waving her hands emphatically over her crystal ball. Nothing happened, but she began talking anyway.

"Ah yes, I can see there is much to happen in your future…yes, hmmm, I see…" she glanced up to make sure Mindy was still engrossed, which she was, mouth open and all, and so she continued, "you are riiich, and living the life of a _celebrity_…"

"Oooh, really? How rich am I!"

"Quite rich…and oh! I see…a man…" continued Umberta dramatically.

"Who is it?" asked Mindy eagerly.

"I cannot make out his face but…it is evident he is in love with you, but your face is turned away, to a crowd. I do not think you even see him there…it's quite heart-breaking…"

Mindy looked sad. "I don't? Why not? What's happening now?"

Umberta waved her arm over the ball. "The vision ended, I could not see more." Mindy looked disappointed. "That's it?" she asked.

"Yes, you can pay at that little stand over there. Who's next?"

Mindy got up, sighing, "If only the ball could see more!" earning an annoyed look from Jasmine, who couldn't believe Mindy actually took the woman seriously.

"Nobody. We'll leave now, thanks," answered Jasmine to Umberta, a little rudely, unimpressed by her. She began walking off, when suddenly the woman grabbed her arm in earnest.

"You should know…there are those who will try to deceive you…do not let yourself be blinded from the truth…" she said seriously, looking at her straight in the eye.

Jasmine tensed up and narrowed her eyes in apprehension. She yanked her arm out of the woman's firm grasp and held it close to her, quickly looking away from her and walking off fast. Alexis and Mindy turned to Jasmine, curious.

"What happened?" asked Mindy eagerly.

"Yeah…what did she mean by that?" added Alexis.

Jasmine stumbled on her words. "I-I don't know…it didn't mean anything. She's just a crazy old kook, after all…" she answered quickly, trying to get the attention off of her. She succeeded, only because Mindy had to pay for her service and, realizing she was out of money, asked Alexis for some with a promise to pay her back. And so, while her friends were distracted for a bit, Jasmine wondered the meaning of what the fortune teller had said.

"_That was really weird…what could she mean by saying that?"_ she asked herself. Her thoughts, however, strayed back to the very subject she had tried avoiding all day—without much success—and somewhere, at the back of her mind, she had an idea…

"_No,"_ she reaffirmed herself. If she let herself believe _that_, it would make Chazz's accusation true, and she there was no way that could be true…

Could it?

"_NO! Besides, am I really going to believe some old hag and some cheap crystal ball setup here? She was only trying to get some more money anyway…"_

"Well that was pretty interesting, huh?" said Mindy, interrupting Jasmine's thoughts.

"Oh yeah, I'd say! She was pretty weird," said Alexis.

"Yeah. But she was _incredible._ I don't think I've gotten a more accurate reading before! I mean, she got my personality completely right! Hmm, and now I'm going to be a _rich celebrity_…you two are so lucky, being best friends with a SUPERSTAR!" exclaimed Mindy, striking a pose. Alexis laughed and started pretending to take pictures of her as Mindy posed and blew kisses to the "camera."

"Stop it Mindy. You don't really believe her, do you?" Jasmine snapped. She wasn't sure why, but suddenly she was just in a bad mood now. "I mean she just told you what you wanted to hear."

"Oh, you're just jealous, Jasmine."

"No I'm _not_. I just don't think you should believe her so easily. She's nothing but a liar, making money off innocent people."

"Whoa, Jazz, chill out here! It's only for fun. What's wrong with _you_ now?" asked Mindy tartly.

"Nothing. Nevermind."

Mindy and Alexis looked at each other, Alexis shrugging as Mindy rolled her eyes.

"_Anyways,_ when I'm _famous_, I'll designate you both as my guests of honor or whatever, you know, to things like walking down the red carpet and eating suppah with the Queen of Englahnd ahnd such," said Mindy, switching to an English accent at the last part. "Well, I will if you don't get on my _nerves_…" she added back to her regular voice, and making a point in saying to straight to Jasmine, who rolled her eyes and looked away, tuning Mindy's continuing chatter out.

She began distracting herself by looking at the plaza around her. An older girl was giving her little brother an ice cream cone she just bought for him, as he took it excitedly, jumping up and down; a group of teenagers was sitting at a fountain, laughing as one of them fell in the water; a couple sat on a bench near them, kissing and cooing at eachother, oblivious to what was happening around them. There were tons of people, all happy and having fun, without a care in the world. She realized that was how she was supposed to be…but for some reason, she wasn't. Why was she in a bad mood most of time now? She wasn't usually this way…

She looked back at Mindy, who was still talking happily to Alexis, and felt bad for snapping at her just moments ago…Mindy was only having fun. And also the fight she had with Alexis a couple of days ago…what exactly had it been about again?

"_What's wrong with me? Why am I being so difficult to be with now?"_

"Evan!" she heard Mindy exclaim. She looked up quickly, feeling herself involuntarily go rigid.

"Hey! What's up?" he said, jogging up to them, as Mindy and Alexis greeted him. "Hey, Jasmine," he added to her, flashing a charming smile.

"Hi," she answered, a bit stiffly.

He looked at her a bit odd, but still put his arms around her. "I missed you."

"_Missed me? I saw you only two days ago…"_ she thought. But an "I missed you too," was all she answered back, feeling oddly uncomfortable in his arms.

"So you all hear about the party on Friday?" he asked them all, switching to just draping an arm around Jasmine's waist.

"Oh yeah, of course! I'm so excited!" said Mindy.

"Yeah, I know. There are going to be fireworks, you know."

"Of course _I_ know! It's what I'm looking forward to most! It's going to be SO romantic."

"Haha! Yeah, you're speaking my language!" he laughed. He turned to Jasmine, and lowered his voice. "So…how about it?"

"What do you mean? Are you asking me to go with you?" she asked him, not looking at his face.

"Well, yeah…I didn't even think I _had_ to ask."

"Oh, well then…fine."

He noticed the lack of enthusiasm in her voice, but decided not to pay attention to it. "Ok then. I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7:00 then," he said, wrapping his arm around her a little tighter.

"Sounds great…" she said, forcing a smile.

* * *

Chazz sat in the chair by the window, looking out lost in his thoughts about all that had happened during the week…and how his past had caught up with him. He was even able to drown out the noise Jaden and the others were making, since they had come into the room through that dang connection door. He began thinking about his brothers…they were on the same island, but he hoped he would never have to see them…

"WA HA HA! Man, that wasch hilarioush Sy!" yelled Jaden, mouth full of…something.

Syrus looked surprised. "It was?"

"Yeah! That's got to be the funniest joke I've ever heard!"

"Really?" he asked, looking proud of himself. He looked at his brother, who was taking notes on something he was reading on the other bed.

"Hey…Zane?" Syrus asked shyly. Zane looked up without saying a word.

"Um, do you wanna hear this joke? Jaden thinks it's really funny—"

"That's what you interrupted my work for? Syrus, you know I don't have time to waste for things like that."

This caught Chazz's attention as he looked over to see Syrus nodding his head in embarrassment and Zane going back to work. For once, he felt bad for Syrus…it sort of reminded him of his family…if you could call them that…

He looked back outside, getting lost in his thoughts all over again.

Jaden, who saw what had happened between Syrus and Zane, tried to find something to cheer up his best friend.

"So who's excited for the party tomorrowww? Hey Syrus, I hear the Dark Magician Girl fan club is going to be giving out free Dark Magician Girl stuff."

"They are? Oh, then I'm excited! Can we go there early?" he asked, back in good spirits.

"Yeah, of course we will! You wanna go too, Bastion?" asked Jaden.

"Oh, um…I'd love to but…"

"But he's got a hot date!" teased Atticus, nudging Bastion in the ribs. "With Mindy! I heard him asking her myself."

Jaden and Syrus looked at Bastion with surprise on their faces.

"A hot date with Mindy, eh? Bastion, you dog you. You better behave!" Jaden said, joining in on the teasing.

"I-It's not a 'hot date,'" he said, slightly blushing. "It's just a…get together…among two friends…"

Atticus bursted out laughing. "Haha! Bastion, you sure know how to make me laugh. But I say you made a good choice, Mindy's pretty cute."

Bastion was relieved when the attention shifted away from him and on to Atticus when Jaden asked him, "So are you going with anyone?"

"Am I?" answered Atticus, smugly. "Of course! Three, actually, heh heh!"

"What?" said Jaden, Syrus and Bastion together.

"Yeah, you heard me right. I can't help it if the ladies love me."

"Well how can you go out with three at one time?" asked Syrus, amazed.

"If they're friends—or triplets, for that matter, but the powers that be haven't been THAT nice to me. Anyways, they're all best friends, named Lilly, Wendy and Francine. I think. Anyways you know, one of them actually had her eye on Chazz, but he never called her back, can't imagine why…he's totally missing out."

"Well, why don't ask him?" asked Jaden.

Atticus rolled his eyes in Chazz's direction, who had no idea what was going on. "Huh, I _would_, but he's totally acting weird these days...and he's been staring out that window for AGES already, it's like nothing can get him away from there! It's best to steer clear from him, or whatever he's got will spread to me."

"Oh, it can't be _that_ bad," said Jaden, looking over at him. "Chaaazzz!" he called out obnoxiously. But Chazz kept looking out the window.

"See?" said Atticus.

"It's like he didn't even _hear_ you!" exclaimed Syrus.

"Hmm…" said Jaden, as he looked around the room. His eyes widened when he spotted the refrigerator, earning confused looks from everybody else. "Watch this," he mouthed to them.

"Oh, Chaaaaz!" he said, in a sing-song voice. He started creeping towards the refrigerator. "I'm walking towards the refrigerator!"

No response.

He reached it and opened the door. "I am now opening the refrigerator doooooor!"

No response.

"I am reaching for your lunchboooox! Filled with your not-so-secret stash of wonderful…delicious…_creamy _chocolate pudding!"

Still, no response.

"I have unzipped the zipper and I am now closing my sticky, dirty little fingers in a firm grasp on a pudding cup!"

Chazz shifted around and…nope, nothing.

"Ok yeah, there's something wrong with him," said Jaden, opening the pudding top and beginning to eat it.

"I told you!" exclaimed Atticus, looking at Jaden. "You're not gonna use a spoon for that?"

"Nah! I'm almost done anyway!" he answered with chocolate smeared around his mouth. "But WOW, I thought that would definitely get his attention! How long has he been like that?"

"Well he was like that at the window even before you guys came, but he's been weird for quite some time now," answered Atticus.

"Hmm…" said Jaden, and he threw the empty pudding cup at Chazz's head.

He immediately snapped out of the reverie he was in and whipped around. "Wha—who did that?" he asked angrily.

Everyone scooted away from Jaden, who was left alone on the bed, the obvious culprit with chocolate all over his face.

"You've been eating my pudding?" he yelled, picking up the empty container.

"No!" laughed Jaden nervously. "I think it's all in your imagination…"

He was surprised when Chazz only threw the cup on the trash, instead of beating him senseless.

"That's it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, no scolding? No hitting? No punches being thrown?"

"Hmph. Not worth my time."

Jaden raised his eyebrows. "Are you ok, Chazz?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Can't you all just leave me alone?" he snapped, looking back out the window.

"Well that's what he wants to do, I guess. How about the _rest_ of us do something?" suggested Atticus. They all nodded.

"You coming too, Zane?" added Atticus.

"Yeah, I suppose," he agreed half-heartedly.

They all walked out, except Zane, who was the last one to leave, stopped when he was at the door and turned back to Chazz.

"You sure you're ok?"

Chazz looked up. "I'm fine."

Zane nodded and was about to walk out when Chazz asked,

"Zane, can I ask you something?"

He stopped and looked at Chazz quizzically. "What is it?"

"Do you love your brother?"

"Why are you asking me th—?"

"Can you just answer it?" Chazz interrupted.

Zane shifted around and looked down. He looked like he was struggling to say it. He sighed.

"Yeah…he's my brother."

Chazz nodded and turned away, as Zane quickly walked out.

"_That's what I thought…so they're not like my family after all…"_

* * *

When Jasmine got back to the hotel room, she breathed a sigh of relief. After all that had happened today, she wanted nothing more than to just lie down and relax. She flopped down onto the bed—but not until she had grabbed the pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream from the freezer. She opened the top and dug her spoon into it.

"You're gonna eat that all by yourself?" asked Mindy, disbelievingly.

"Yes," she answered shortly, turning on the T.V. and earning a shrug from Mindy, who just thought she was still in a pissy mood. Jasmine stared at the T.V., trying to distract herself so she wouldn't start thinking...but without much luck. She couldn't help avoiding the subject forever…

She was confused. She told herself over and over that she liked Evan, that he was a great guy, that any girl would kill for a guy as sweet and caring as he was…but then she realized, why should she have to _keep_ telling herself that? It should be a natural feeling…

Truth was she really didn't enjoy his company when she saw him today. She compared her feelings and reactions to him when she _first_ met him and how she was today, and it the difference was clear. When he came up she felt dread; when he touched her, she flinched; when he asked her to the party, she hardly felt excited. She was confused, though, because these feelings seemed to come so quickly…just a couple of days ago she had practically been in love with the guy, thinking about him constantly and defending him left and right…starting fights with her friends…

She remembered her fight with Alexis. That's what it had been about. Evan. No, Evan and the fact that he would run off without a trace. She realized he still did that, and she still knew nothing about him…where did he go in between times she saw him? He knew about her life, her big family of five brothers and sisters, where she was from…and she didn't even know where he was staying on the island.

And now she wasn't even sure his name was even Evan.

"_It's Adrian Richmond, he works for my brothers and he's been lying to you the second he met you!"_

Chazz's voice sounded in her head. What he had said seemed so crazy though…so far-fetched…these kinds of things only happened in some soap opera drama. Yet, it made so much sense…

"_How could I make up something like this? Why would I even do that?"_

Why _would_ he make up something like that? He wouldn't…

"_I haven't been giving Chazz much credit…"_ she thought, remembering how she had been so quick to not believe him. _"And why? Evan…Adrian…"_ she paused, not even knowing what to call him, _"he hasn't done anything that would make him earn my trust…"_

"Um, Jasmine? How long are we gonna watch this infomercial about…toe nail fungus?" asked Alexis, cringing at the T.V.

Jasmine jumped in surprise as she broke away from her thoughts. "Huh? Oh! Sorry…" she said, realizing she was holding the remote. "Here, you can have it," she said, passing it to her friend.

Alexis raised an eyebrow, but took the remote. She started switching the channels, but then she turned to Jasmine. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? It's just that…you've been acting a bit strange lately. Even Mindy noticed it."

"Oh, she does? Where is she?"

"She went to go get some snacks or something. I don't know, she really hates just doing nothing, I guess. But the thing is, she asked you if you wanted anything, and you just sat there, staring blankly at the T.V. and eating ice cream."

"She asked me something?"

"Yeah. So what's up? I know you only blank out like that when you're deep in thought about something. And you only eat that much when you're stressed." She nodded at the ice cream.

Jasmine looked down at the ice cream, then back up at her, and put the pint of ice cream on the night table next to her. "I'm fine. I'm just, tired I guess."

Alexis looked really skeptical. "No you're not. Just tell me!" she said, then added cautiously, "Does it have to do with Evan?"

Jasmine was surprised. "What? Why would you think that?" She felt her face getting hot. She had established she didn't like him anymore, but…she didn't want anybody to know what she knew right now. What if everything turned out to not be true?

"It's just, you didn't seem that happy to see him today."

"Oh well, I was. If I'm acting weird, I'm not meaning to. And are we going to keep watching this documentary on the migration and reproduction habits of fire ants?" Jasmine asked annoyed, grabbing the ice cream off the table and eating it again.

Alexis looked disappointed and a bit angry that Jasmine wouldn't confess what was bothering her. "Ok, fine," she said, switching the channel.

* * *

So that's it! Emotions are beginning to change…and I promise big things will happen next chapter. I hope this one didn't bore you too much, not much action, but it's still needed! Review again please! 


	6. Reality Check

**Disclaimer:** Do I have to keep doing these each chapter? I don't really know. But you already know what I'm gonna say.

Soo...here's Chapter 6! It's a longer one...but not too bad, is it? Anyways, thanks to the ones who reviewed! Yay!

* * *

Jasmine lied wide awake in her bed, trying her best to fall asleep. It hardly worked. She looked at the clock.

_2:42 a.m._

She sighed in annoyance. She was highly uncomfortable, feeling both restless and fatigued; all she wanted was to fall asleep, so she could feel nothing and think nothing about the thoughts that continued to plague her. She heard movement on the other bed, and looked to her left to see Alexis rolling around for a new spot, slightly snoring, and in a deep sleep. She wished she could've been like that right now.

"No…"

Jasmine jumped at the sudden break of the silence in the room, and looked to the other bed to her right. There Mindy lied in an awkward position, with a pool of drool next to her.

"Stop putting crumbs in the bed…" The rest became indistinguishable as Mindy continued mumbling for a bit then stopped when she started kicking her leg.

Jasmine stifled a laugh as she continued looking around the room. Something on the table caught her eye. It was a teddy bear.

The teddy bear Evan had gotten her.

It just sat there. She realized she hadn't touched it since that night…actually, she had forgotten all about it. Was that supposed to mean something?

She turned to her side so that she wasn't facing it anymore, and tried closing her eyes again.

* * *

The following day Chazz stood outside the hotel room, avoiding the commotion Atticus was making inside while he got ready for the Grand Finale party. Chazz wasn't so enthusiastic about it, but he at least was grateful that this little ridiculous "vacation"—though it had been anything but relaxing—was almost over, and that tomorrow he would be returning to Duel Academy. That was a place where things actually made sense.

He continued walking, over to the big lake. There he remembered the fight he had with Jasmine, and wondered if she still was with…that _guy_.

"_Probably,"_ he thought, distastefully. _"But I don't care." _

He had told her what she needed to know, so whatever happened now would be _her_ fault. He then remembered how he had yelled at his Ojamas. They hadn't come out since then. He sighed, feeling bad for how he reacted. Annoying as they were, he knew they were only trying to help.

"You guys…you can come out now," he said out loud. He never thought he'd actually be _inviting_ them to come out.

Nothing happened for a bit, but Chazz knew they had heard him. Slowly, his Green and Black Ojamas came out of his pocket, where he had his cards.

"And Yellow?"

"He's waiting for an apology," said Black.

Chazz groaned, but did it anyway. He owed it to him.

"I'm…" he paused, trying to get the other word out. He didn't _do_ apologies. "…sorry," he finished unwillingly. "I've been a jerk to you all, I know."

Yellow then popped out, tears flowing from his eyes. "Oh!" He whipped his arms around Chazz's neck. "You mean that, Boss?"

"Gah! What are you doing?" Chazz yelled as Yellow hung on tighter. Black and Green began hugging him too.

"Group hug of love!" shouted Black.

"WE MISSED YOU BOSS! WAH!" yelled Green.

All three were crying now, as Chazz stood there, trying to get them OFF. "Alright, alright! Get off!" he said, "We only didn't see each other for ONE day!"

They all let go, but the tears kept going. "One day that felt like years and _years_!" said Yellow, putting a hand up to his forehead dramatically as they all started pretending to be weak. "We were left in the darkness, the light no where to be seen!"

"That _would_ be darkness," mumbled Chazz mockingly.

"And now here we are! Together again!" Yellow exclaimed triumphantly, and with a collective "Aww!" all three were hugging Chazz again.

"No! Stop! I thought we were done with this part!"

They didn't come off, so Chazz stood there unhappily for a bit. "Alright, enough love now," he said irritated, brushing them off. "And no more, for the next twenty years, got it?"

Yellow gasped. "Did you hear that? He plans to keep us for the next twenty YEARS!" he exclaimed excitedly, as they all started bouncing around.

"Wait, no, that's not what I meant!" Chazz said quickly, but they weren't listening. He was about to say it again, when someone interrupted.

"Hey there, Chazz. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Chazz looked over, and froze. He immediately narrowed his eyes. Even his Ojamas got silent.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked sharply.

Adrian walked a bit closer, and took a deep breath. "Beautiful weather, isn't it?" he asked lightheartedly, looking up at the sky, the sun starting to set.

Chazz wasn't going to let him stall; he wanted to get to the point. "Tch. What do you want?"

"Hm, you don't waste any time," he answered, looking back at him, pretending to be disappointed. "I'm here to get you, that's what."

"What?"

"Your brothers want to see you."

"What do _they_ want? ...I doubt it's for a cup of tea."

Adrian laughed coldly. "Well, who knows? Maybe it is," he finished tauntingly, turning around and indicating Chazz to follow with a flick of his hand.

* * *

The whole walk there had been a tense and silent one, to say the least. Chazz followed Adrian for quite a bit, making a point in staying a bit of a distance away from him until they reached a dark side of the island to an alley used for storage.

"A dark and cold alley, huh? How original," said Chazz sarcastically, looking at where Adrian had taken him.

"Yeah, we thought so," he answered back.

Chazz turned the corner, and sure enough, there were his brothers…both Slade and Jagger.

When he saw Chazz, Slade threw a cigarette he had been smoking onto the ground, and put it out with his shoe. "Hey Jag," he said, turning to his brother, "look who finally came." He paused, looking back at Chazz.

"Hello, little brother."

"What do you guys want?"

"Now, is that any way to greet your dear brothers after all this time?" Slade asked, mockingly hurt.

"Yeah, and what makes you think we _want_ anything? Maybe we're just here to see our widdle brother," added Jagger, also taunting as he came up and ruffled Chazz's hair. As he did, Chazz quickly pulled away.

They laughed. "But, you know, now that you mention it…there IS something we'd like from you," finished Jagger.

"And what is that?"

"Well, we've changed our minds," said Slade simply.

"What do you mean?" Chazz asked uneasily.

"Agh, man! I know things are _just_ starting to get good, but I've gotta go," said Adrian. "I've got a date to get to." He wiggled his eyebrows. He left, whistling as he walked off, unfazed by Chazz's predicament.

"_So she must still be with him…tch, figures,"_ he thought, but his attention was quickly brought back to the subject at hand.

Slade turned back to Chazz. "Well, we've been thinking, and we really don't think this whole _dueling_ business is really working for you." He paused, crossing his arms. "Actually, it's a downright disaster for you. So, after you graduate, that'll be the end of your dueling career, and you'll come work for us."

Chazz was taken aback. _"They want **what**?" _he thought, disbelievingly. He shook his head. "W-what? No…you can't make me do that…"

His brothers raised their eyebrows. "No?" said Slade. "Um, might I remind you exactly _who's_ funding your little escapade to the academy? If we wanted, we could just cut it off, right _now_. Need I remind you, you owe it to us."

It was true. They held the power here. There was nothing he could do.

"Besides, what exactly do you plan to do once you leave the academy? There's nothing for you. You'd just end up coming to us anyway," said Jagger.

"_Exactly._ Let me remind you that you are no longer on top anymore. When was the last time you won a duel? And I mean, against someone with some real skill…say, Jaden Yuki?" Slade asked, coming up into Chazz's face.

Chazz avoided eye contact and stayed silent, ashamed of his answer. He hadn't ever beaten him…

"The answer is you haven't, isn't it? And do you think that will ever change?"

"I-It could—"

"Nope! Wrong answer!" Slade cut off, raising his voice. "You haven't beaten him now, you won't beat him ever, I've seen you duel. And so, let me ask you, what would you do with yourself after you graduate from Duel Academy, huh? Enter competitions where you will face opponents like Jaden, and that Zane Truesdale, only to get crushed in your face and humiliated in front of millions of people? And then, what would you do for money? Don't think you would get a _cent_ from us—you'd only be struggling to make that money in a world where the most you could possibly be is a has-been!" He smirked. "Whose best years were in a lowly high school. Is that what you want?"

No…he didn't want that…

Slade began again, his voice much softer. "Or, come work for us, and still have power and resources…" He took out a few coins and sifted them through his fingers into Chazz's palm. "…and money, _right_ at your fingertips."

"So, it's up to you," Slade finished, starting to walk off.

"Think about it," said Jagger. "Don't make life harder for yourself. It would not be smart to refuse this offer, we're already being too generous."

And he followed Slade out.

And Chazz was left there, frozen in place, still looking at the coins in his hand.

* * *

It came way sooner than she wanted it to—of course, she hadn't wanted it to come at all.

The clock now read _6:26_, and both Mindy and Alexis were already getting ready for the party; she, however, still sat on the bed, wondering just where the day had gone…

"Jasmine! Have you even looked at the time? Isn't Evan coming to pick you up at 7:00?" Mindy exclaimed, drying her hair with a towel before starting to brush it.

"_Have I looked at the time? It's all I've been doing all day,"_ she thought, a bit unfocused.

Her lack of answer made Mindy widen her eyes at her incredulously. "Jasmine, that means you only have," she glanced at the clock, which now read _6:28_, "thirty-two minutes left! And you haven't even taken a shower yet!"

"Ok! I'll get going!" Jasmine answered annoyed, grabbing a towel to go take a shower. Mindy scoffed at her as Alexis turned on the blow dryer, silently watching Jasmine and having a suspicion as to why she was acting so disinterested.

While in the shower, Jasmine stood under the warm running water. She started shampooing her hair, knowing each minute only brought her closer to the time Evan would come…and to the time she had decided she was going to find out exactly who he was for _sure_. Only she didn't know how she was going to go about it—or how he might react.

She finished her shower and stepped out, slipping as she did and almost falling down. She hoped that action wasn't foreshadowing how the night would be. Fully dressed, she stepped out of the bathroom and glanced at the clock. It now read _6:50_.

"_Well **I'm** gonna be late," _she thought, shrugging and brushing her hair.

"You're gonna be late you know," Mindy reprimanded, putting on earrings.

"_No, I didn't know that actually,"_ thought Jasmine sarcastically, turning on the blow dryer. When her hair was dry and styled, she started putting on make-up. While brushing on her mascara, there was a knock on the door.

And then suddenly, she no longer felt so careless, and instead more nervous than ever. It was time. She would soon find out who he really was, and who was really the liar in the story.

Alexis was the one to open the door, since she was the first to be ready, like she always was. Of course, there stood Evan, handsome and perfectly on time, arriving at 7:00 p.m. on the dot.

"Oh, hello," greeted Alexis, nonchalantly, stepping aside to let him in.

"Hey," he answered back. He looked at Jasmine, and raised his eyebrows when he saw her still getting ready. "You're not ready to go?"

"Nope."

"Oh, well I told you I was going to be here at 7:00."

"_What, you can't wait one more minute or something?"_ she thought annoyed.

"Oh, but you know how girls are!" Mindy answered back quickly, laughing, before Jasmine could say anything. Mindy knew her friend was acting strange, and didn't want her saying something rude.

"Oh, yeah," he laughed along, but began looking at Jasmine suspiciously.

Just then Bastion walked up to the door, which was still open, and gingerly stepped inside. "Um, hello?"

"Bastion! Hiiii!" exclaimed Mindy as she ran up to him and gave him a hug. "Well I guess whenever Jasmine's ready we can all go then."

"I'll be ready in a second," she answered, looking at them in the mirror. She looked at Evan again, who was still watching at her, as if he was wondering something…

She quickly looked away. "Ok. I'm ready," she said, grabbing her purse and walking out with the rest.

Mindy and Bastion went off by themselves and walked together in front, as expected; and Evan, in turn, came and took his position beside Jasmine. As he did, however, she purposefully began talking to Alexis to make sure it would be the _three_ of them walking together; the last thing she wanted right now was to be alone with him.

"So you both ready to party?" asked Evan, breaking the silence that ensued after Jasmine ran out of things to say to her friend.

"Oh yeah! It's gonna be fun," answered Alexis.

Throughout the walk, Jasmine had been thinking what she could possibly DO to find out the truth about him, and had finally thought of something…she wasn't too confident in it though; it was not something clever and well-planned, for starters, and it was really sort of stupid…but what else did she have? She _did_ know that she would have to start acting like nothing was wrong…she had to now act like how she did when she first met him, or else it had no chance of working. She had to catch him when he was most at ease…

So when she answered his question, she did so lightheartedly and enthusiastically. "Definitely! The question is, are _you_ ready?"

He looked at her, a bit surprised, and the suspicion in his eyes seemed to disappear now that she was acting like her usual self. "Oh, I was _born_ ready."

She faked a laugh that sounded real even to Alexis, who looked at her with an eyebrow raised. They soon reached the Kaiba Island Grand Square, which was extravagantly decorated with bright colored lights, stringing across the top from stand to stand, which were selling food and drinks, cards, or other duel monsters fan items. The loud music playing and bustle of people made the place even more exciting.

"Wow…" said Jasmine, as she walked up to a few gigantic ice sculptures of famous duel cards, all lit up with lights in the back to make them sparkle. She was truly taken by the beauty of it all.

"Hey, I'm gonna go find Jaden and the other guys, see you later!" said Alexis, walking off and searching the crowd.

Jasmine whipped around, alarmed that Alexis was leaving. She knew that she would have had to sometime get herself alone with Evan if she wanted her plan to work, but she certainly was not expecting that time to come _this_ soon. But, nevertheless, she _had_ to keep her cool. So she turned back to Evan. "Aren't these amazing?" she asked, looking back up at the sculptures.

"Eh, yeah they're alright. Figures Kaiba would do something extravagant like this though, he always is," he answered, a bit spitefully.

"What, you know him or something?" she asked, suspicious of the tone of his voice.

He looked at her. "Oh, no!" he quickly said, laughing it off. "It's just what I've heard, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she said, but noted how he had nervously said it.

"_He works for my brothers…"_

She had never met Chazz's brothers, but already greatly disliked them ever since they came to Duel Academy, wanting to bulldoze it; she knew they were big-shot business guys with their eyes only on gaining more money...and they probably knew Kaiba.

"_Hmm…" _she thought, looking at Evan, as she remembered what Chazz had said. She seemed to be doing a lot of that nowadays, and each time she did, everything he said made more and more sense...

But still, it was all speculation. She needed more. "So you want to get something to eat?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yeah! That would be great!" he answered, just as cheerful.

They went to a stand and bought hotdogs, where Jasmine initiated a race of who could eat theirs the fastest.

"Geez, you're fast!" Evan exclaimed, when she beat him. She laughed at that, and he smiled back, and that's when she realized her act must be working.

"_Hmm…he's getting relaxed now, I can see it,"_ she thought, feeling herself getting nervous again, knowing it was now or never…the moment of truth…

With the hope of catching him off guard, she began her ramble, where she decided the ditzier she sounded the better. "So, this party's pretty fun. I mean, with all the different colored lights it looks like we're in a rainbow, doesn't it?" she giggled, and as he opened his mouth to answer, she continued, never once allowing him to speak.

"And I just can't stop looking at those ice sculptures over there! They're amazing! They look exactly like the cards! And wow, these hotdogs were delicious, have you ever eaten better hotdogs in your life? I know I haven't! And just _look_ at all these people! And the music! The music makes me want to just run out and dance! Don't you, Adrian?"

She said it so naturally and so fluid, she was surprised at herself, but still...would this plan actually work? She watched his face in anxiety.

Without batting an eye, he answered her like nothing was wrong. "Yeah, I definitely do!" he exclaimed, starting to walk off. But she simply stayed right where she was.

Soon noticing she was not walking with him, he turned around and looked at her strangely, knowing something was up. She, however, was looking at him with narrowed eyes, dumbfounded. It wasn't so surprising, actually, that what Chazz said was true; she had had a sneaking suspicion that it had been ever since then. It was more from her stupidity, and how she had allowed herself to be fooled like this, almost effortlessly on his part.

She started backing away, no longer bothering to put up the carefree act anymore. She had found out what she needed.

His face darkened as he stared at her, making the realization on what had been said. There was only one way she could have found that out.

Jasmine stared back at him, suddenly seeing him in a whole new light. That expression…it was the same he had when he had "met" Chazz that one day…what exactly happened between those two? She was almost frightened by him—it was like she was seeing the _real_ side of him, a side that wasn't so kind and light-hearted…and more like a side that would cause so much bad blood between him and Chazz…

"_Chazz…"_ she thought solemnly. _"He had been telling the truth…" _

"Jasmine, listen—" began Evan—Adrian—but she wasn't paying attention. She was thinking of someone else right now…

She quickly turned around and ran off, running into some people along the way. She had to find him. She had to ask him what had happened. She had to tell him she believed him. She heard her name being called behind her, and, knowing who it was, she didn't look back.

* * *

Chazz still was trying to make sense of it all.

He had fought so hard to be able to go to Duel Academy, so _damn_ hard, and just like _that_, his brothers could take it all away from him. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. There had to be a way he could get out of this, right? He closed his hand over the gold coins, tightly, hearing them clink together in his fist.

He stuck his hand into his right pocket, to drop the coins in--somewhere in his mind wondered why he even was--when he suddenly felt something rough against his knuckles. His cards...

And something inside him snapped.

"_They can't make me do this!"_ he thought furiously. _"It's **my** life!"_

He immediately kicked a can that was lying on the floor, and it clanked down the stone floor loudly. _"They **can't**!"_ He kicked it again, feeling his rage growing by the second. _"They can't, they can't, they can't!_" Each kick was harder than the one before. He stopped, finally, breathing hard, exhausted.

He kicked it, desperately, one last time, before he came to the realization.

"_They can…"_

He leaned, face forward, into the wall. He felt like a little kid again--powerless, his life not his to control. But they were right, he was getting nowhere…he was a failure. Time and time again, no matter what he did, how hard he tried...he was a failure.

He would never be on top.

* * *

When Jasmine had gained enough distance, she slowed down to a walk, realizing she had no idea where she was running off _to_. She looked around, at the people surrounding her. They were all strangers. She bit her lip.

"_Where could he be?"_she asked herself, feeling disappointed that she wouldn't find him, as she kept on walking. She thought back on what just happened, and sighed. So it all had been true.

"_But…what exactly would Evan,"_ she thought, then shaking her head as she reminded herself. _"**Adrian** get from lying to me? Why did he change his name?"_

She still had so many questions. She had to find out what happened between him and Chazz.

"_I don't need to tell you the whole story! All you need to know is that he's a thief and a cheater, and a liar."_

He hadn't wanted to tell her the whole story then…would he tell her now?

She jumped when she heard a loud clanking, as if someone had kicked a can. She looked up, surprised to find herself in front of some dimly lit alley a little ways from the Grand Finale party, the loud music still very audible but a little faded. She looked to her right, where she had heard the can, and let in a quick breath when she saw who was there…

Chazz was standing facing the wall, head bent resting against it. An old soda can, which looked like it had gone through its share of abuse, sat crookedly behind him. Jasmine found it strange finding him here, and hesitantly walked up to him. She stopped when she was next to him, unsure of how to get his attention. She didn't need to, though, when Chazz noticed that he was no longer the only person in the alley now. Still resting his head on the wall, he slightly turned his head to the left, to see who it was. He quickly lifted is head up, surprised to see the person was Jasmine.

She stuttered, caught off guard. "U-Um, hi, I uh…well I-I'm here because…well I didn't know _you_ were going to be here, I just sort of found it by chance and…here you are! But um…" she rushed out, stopping when she knew this ramble of hers was going nowhere. She cleared her throat nervously, and tried again.

"I came to tell you…that I believe you."

He didn't need her to clarify what she meant, he knew already.

"I…I should've in the first place. But, well I don't know, I guess I just didn't want to believe it," she looked away. "But I know it's true now." She looked back up, looking like she wanted to ask him something else, but pausing, as if she wasn't sure she should ask it. She ended up doing so.

"What," she began, pausing. "What happened between you two?"

It was mixture between a polite question and a desperate demand for an answer. He hesitated before answering, giving her a deep look then, as if he was seeing if she passed the test. When he did, Jasmine noticed he looked very tired, and very sullen. He wasn't a happy person by nature, but still, it was not like his usual self.

He sighed, looking away. "We sort of grew up together."

He paused to lean back on the wall, and put his hands in his pockets. "He was this neighborhood kid, and we used to play sometimes when we were little. When he was eleven, though, both his parents died in a car crash. My father took him in then, feeling sorry for him."

"And your mother?" Jasmine asked meekly.

He scoffed. "I never knew my mother. My father told me she died when I was a baby, but later I found out _that_ was a lie." He didn't say anything else about the subject, so Jasmine stayed silent.

"I was excited at first, with Adrian moving in. It was like getting a new brother…I had two others, but they usually didn't pay much attention to me…they were much older so they kept to themselves. But Adrian didn't turn out like I expected. He didn't like staying here, and he was always talking about running away and crap like that. I didn't like him, so I didn't take him seriously. He didn't like me either."

He sighed again. "It was like that for a year, with us just not liking each other. But, things started to change when I was thirteen. In school there was this test they told me to take, and I scored the highest in my school. Apparently I had a really high IQ. Not really that big a deal, not really, my school was small to begin with, but everyone started to take notice anyway. My father, who would usually never be there since he was busy, was one of them: he started to practically fawn over me, letting me have whatever I wanted and telling my brothers—and Adrian—to be more like me. They started to resent me."

"I didn't even notice it then. I just thought it was great how my father was actually trying to spend some time with me. Then, I noticed my brothers were starting to talk between themselves a lot. And they often went into my father's office, and I'd only hear yelling from the other side of the door…" He paused, looking like he was remembering something. "Later I found out it was because they wanted to inherit the company—and no doubt the money that came with it—once…well, once my father was gone."

"And then, my father got really sick. Probably from working so much. He had to stay in bed a lot, and have these nurses look after him 24/7. We were in the same house but still never saw him much. Then one day, he called me in…"

_Flashback:_

Chazz quietly stepped into the room, surprised to see his father lying weakly on the bed, machines surrounding him, regulating his condition; he had seen him before like this, but it still was a bit of a shock each time he did.

"Come here," he said, gently waving him in when he saw his son at the door. Chazz slowly walked up to the bed.

"I have something I want to tell you, son," he began, when his son reached his side. "I'm sick, obviously, but don't you make a big deal about it, ok? I called you here, because I need you right now—I'm only getting older, after all, and it's got me thinking about how things would be once I'm gone." He coughed, dry and hacking, and after a moment he began again, exhaustion in his voice. "So, I've decided, that I want _you_ to take over the company."

Chazz widened his eyes. "Me? But...I'm only thirteen—"

"That doesn't matter!" his father interrupted. "You can do it. You have the brains."

"But I don't get it…why not Slade? Or Jagger?"

His father nodded. "Yes, why not them, hm? They are quite intelligent too, and they surely have their eyes on the company, as they have often told me. They're the obvious choices. But I never did like doing what's expected, and honestly I do not think it's for the best anyway. Slade is much too power-hungry for my taste, he would not follow my rules once I'm gone. And Jagger is much too influenced by Slade, it would be the same thing anyway—ah, sometimes I wonder where I went wrong with those two...no, no…I want _you_ to do it."

Chazz stared, doing his best to stop his nervous trembling—a real man never shows signs of weakness, after all—at the request. But really…take over the company?

The whole thing…his?

"Will you?" his father asked then, at his son's silence, almost pleading.

Chazz noticed. His father's eyes were wide, hopeful. He couldn't turn him down now…

"Ok."

_End Flashback_

After he told her this, Jasmine was frozen in shock. _"**Chazz** is supposed to be in control of the company?" _she thought, confused.

"Huh, you're probably wondering why my brothers are in control of the company, then. Well, there's more to the story. After my brothers found out that my father definitely planned to hand the business over to me, they didn't take it so well—they hated me, to put it bluntly. Every single thing I did was wrong, nothing good I did ever counted, and everything was always my fault. Even stupid little things…if they spilled a drink, I was the one who had to clean it up. I don't even know why I did it all. Tch…they still have a grudge against me even now. And Adrian? We went to the same school, and he was always getting low grades and getting in trouble for bullying the other kids. He was always doing that sort of thing, but he was damn good at hiding that side of him. My father never had a clue because my brothers covered for him all the time. Then something happened that changed everything."

"One night, I was going to get a glass of water when I heard some rustling from my father's office. It was strange, so I went to investigate. It was there I found Adrian, stealing money from my father's safe."

Jasmine widened her eyes as Chazz continued, bitterly. "He told me he wasn't going to take all of it, just enough so he could start a life somewhere else. He gave me this sob story and told me he was sorry, and he'd put it all back, he was just desperate. And, stupidly…I let him go."

"Imagine my surprise, then, when the next day _I_ was accused of stealing my father's money. There was Adrian, in the room my father was in, saying _he_ had just seen me taking it out of the safe and stuffing it in my bag. I tried defending myself, I said he was lying, that it was _me_ who caught _him_ in the act. It was no use. Slade brought in my backpack and there the money was…thirty five thousand dollars worth."

Chazz looked down. "My father was never one to doubt solid facts, and it didn't matter if I put the money in there or not…the money was there and so, that was it. Adrian got off scot-free, my brothers got the company…and my father never looked at me the same way again..."

Jasmine swallowed. She was stunned. She could not believe she had even fell for Adrian's act. He was disgusting. She shook her head furiously. How could he _do_ something like that!

"_And Chazz…he warned me about him…"_ she thought softly, looking straight at him.

"Then…about six months later, my father died. My brothers blamed _me_ for it. They said he was getting better, and he would've recovered if it weren't for the stress I put on him." He paused, as if what he was saying now was really hurting him. "And they're right. If it weren't for me my father would still be alive…I led my own father to his death."

Jasmine couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No…it's not your fault—" she began, but Chazz kept going. She wasn't even sure he remembered she was _there_. It was like he was in his own world.

"And…and now, they want me to go work for _them. _First they want nothing to do with me and now they want me to _work_ for them. But they're right—I have no choice. I'm nothing but a failure. After graduation, it's all over…my life, dueling…it's over."

She heard his voice crack, and felt her heart go out to him. He had been through so much…

He looked at her, but it was like he didn't really see her. "It's over…" he said, as if it were finally sinking in. She looked at him, having trouble determining how exactly she felt right now, hearing all this, and seeing him like this. She had never seen someone so sad…so full of pain…

The fireworks started to go off. Despite the noise, she still heard it very clearly when he bent his head, defeated, and said, very softly,

"I'm done."

And before she had any idea of what she was doing, before she could think things through, she found herself leaning in and pressing her lips to his.

Another firework exploded, pulling Jasmine back to her senses. She widened her eyes and immediately pulled away. He only stared back at her, but the surprise in his face was obvious. She opened her mouth to apologize, but nothing came out. Instead, not knowing what to do and in a panic, she quickly turned around and ran off.

She ran back to the party, where a huge crowd had gathered, all "Oohing" and "Ahhing" at the fireworks overhead. She heard her name being called. She turned, and saw Alexis, with the rest of the group.

"Jasmine!" Alexis exclaimed again, finally getting the girl's attention.

Mindy turned to Jasmine as well, with Bastion's arm around her. "Hey! Where the heck have you been? You're missing everything!"

Alexis noticed Jasmine's nervous, rapid breathing. "Are you ok?" she asked, worried.

Jasmine found her voice. "U-um…" She faltered. "Actually I-I'm…I'm not feeling very well…I've got to go!"

"Huh?" asked Alexis.

Somebody then stepped out from the group. It was Adrian. "Jasmine—" he began.

She quickly looked away. She couldn't even stand to look at the guy. She couldn't believe he was actually still _here_.

"I've got to go!" she repeated hurriedly, and continued off to the hotel.

* * *

She opened the door, and slammed it shut. She was trying to understand everything. She started pacing around the room, trying to catch her breath. She walked over to the bed, and sat down, only to immediately get back up. She couldn't sit still. She couldn't relax.

She looked out the window, and could still see the fireworks off in the distance. But she hardly paid attention to them…there was something else on her mind. She bent her head, resting her forehead in her hand, covering her eyes in the process.

"_Oh no…" _she thought frantically, feeling her heart beating fast. _"What did I just do?" _


	7. I did WHAT?

**A/N: **Wow...I can't believe I actually got this chapter finished. It's the longest yet but I think it should be, considering how long it took to post it! There's some swearing this chapter, but its minimal, because some rage is unleashed and it's impractical to keep the language clean. I don't think it's enough to raise the rating, I'm just giving a head's up. So anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

And I do some brand dropping, so I'll say now I don't own Teddy Grahams to be safe.

* * *

Chazz didn't know why he was still walking. He was tired now and his feet hurt, and the rock he kept following as he kicked it through the plaza seemed to know where he was going better than he did. The people were gone already, confetti and other debris the only evidence of their existence, save a few workers who were rushing around and doing some last-minute sweeping of the mess that had been left behind. It was late now. The only thing left to do that made sense was to go back to the hotel.

But still, he found himself walking on, missing the place where he should have turned. What was the point in going back right now anyway? There, he would only be bombarded with questions of his whereabouts tonight, and he hadn't yet come up with an excuse that would be plausible; after all, he certainly wasn't going to say what _really_ happened.

He stopped. What exactly _had_ happened anyway?

It felt like how a sleepwalker must feel when he falls asleep warm in his bed and wakes up in the middle of an unknown street in the middle of nowhere, knowing he doesn't have an answer to how he got there. Only not really. Because a sleepwalker doesn't know what he's doing. And he wouldn't be lying if he said he didn't.

As for him? He could recall Adrian, his brothers, what they said, and what would become of him, quite clearly. He had known what he was doing, and had allowed everything to happen.

He had stood there and let everything happen. Never said a single word. Not one.

Why?

How was it that his brothers suddenly had such a control over his life? Ever since he had beaten Slade, it was like he had completely forgotten they even existed. His life had become so much about Duel Academy, he had taken for granted that his time there would eventually come to an end. Now that that point had come, he realized just how stupid he had been to pretend that all the things he hated about his life had disappeared just because he didn't think about them anymore.

He was ashamed of himself. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. After everything he had been through, and everything he had ever accomplished, he was supposed to be the best. _He_ was supposed to be the victorious one, right? He was the good guy. The _bad_ guys were supposed to lose. He was supposed to rub that in their faces.

Did anyone even _care_ about what he's done? How hard he has worked? Why was it that everyone else could have what they wanted _so easily_, but not him? He was always the one screwed over. Adrian always got what he wanted, his brothers always got what they wanted, even Jaden always got what he wanted. Never him. It was like he was cursed.

Chazz's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he caught something moving out of the corner of his eye. He looked up, and there, running up, with a goofy smile and his hair all tousled like he was scampering up to a friend to tell him some good news, or tell him some dirty joke he had just heard, was the last person he wanted to see in the world. It wasn't so surprising to see him here, and with such a good-natured expression on his face. Chazz knew very well that Adrian was always adept at pretending nothing was wrong.

Adrian stopped in front of him, a look of slight amusement on his face as he tried to catch his breath, bent down with his hands on his knees.

"You told her, didn't you?" he said. His voice was calm, not accusing, and to someone who didn't know him as well as Chazz did, it would have sounded innocent and boyish.

"Haven't you had enough already?" Chazz asked him shortly. "Or do you purposely follow me around?"

Adrian laughed at the accusation, but evaded an answer. "Ok, fine, don't answer the question," he said lightheartedly. "I already know the answer—"

"Yes, I told her. She needed to know."

The other let out a light scoff. "Oh, _come on_, what are you, some boring goody-goody now? I thought we hated guys like that. Remember? Back in grade-school? Those kids who would sit up straight and mentally make love to the teachers? We'd always made fun of them."

Adrian indulged himself in a few light laughs while Chazz stayed silent. He _hated_ how he was making it out to seem like they had been friends. He remembered, all right, when he and Adrian were younger. How cruel Adrian could be even at such an age.

"But then, I guess you've become a stickler for the rules, huh, School Boy? Being at the coveted _Academy_ has made you full of yourself. Frankly, I don't really think she needed to know…what she doesn't know can't hurt her." He smirked. "What's it to you anyway? I wasn't bothering you. I was just having a little fun."

"No. Not this time. I honestly don't care what the hell you do with your life, but she has too close of a connection to me. And I don't want you anywhere near _me_ or _my_ life, got it?"

"That's pretty harsh. Besides, how was I to know you knew her?"

"Doesn't matter. Point is, it's over now, so you can just go back to your life now and leave mine alone."

"I actually liked her, you know," Adrian continued, as fluidly as ever. "It's too bad."

The other scoffed. "Right, I believe that. As much as I believe you deserved the recognition my father gave you."

Adrian laughed again, and put a hand on his heart, pretending to be hurt by that comment. "Wow, you can be pretty scathing when you want to be."

Chazz shook his head in disgust, ready with a retort, but Adrian beat him to it.

"So what's the real reason, you've got a little crush on her or something?"

"I already told you why I did it. Unlike you, I don't avoid telling the truth."

Adrian shrugged, as if he hadn't heard Chazz's answer. "Eh, she wouldn't have liked you anyways. See, girls go for guys with…" He paused for a while.

"With what?" Chazz asked impatiently. He regretted it right after he asked; pulling him into his little mind games and taunts was just what Adrian wanted.

Sure enough, Adrian smiled. "Meh, I don't think I should tell you. Wouldn't want to corrupt that innocent, inexperienced mind of yours. Maybe when you're older, kid."

Chazz shook his head. "Ok, that's it. I've had it with you. I don't know why I'm wasting my time talking to you when you really have no reason to be. We both know you are only here to try to find a weakness in me, to make you feel better about yourself. That's why you're here standing in front of me right now, and also why you're here on this island in the first place. If you don't remember, only my brothers were invited by Kaiba—they're the important ones. But you? You only volunteered to come because you knew I was going to be here, isn't that right?"

"I'm only here because your brothers _asked_ me to."

"And I'm sure it was such a struggle saying yes."

"No, you're right, it wasn't. I can't say no to your brothers."

"Tch, because you can't do anything by yourself—it's pathetic. You're nothing without them on your side. You are _completely_ controlled by them."

At that, Adrian's stiff smile finally twitched a bit. "And you're not?"

Chazz didn't answer.

"You amaze me sometimes, with how much you're in denial. We're not all that different, you know. I don't get why you go out of your way to pretend you are. You're not_ that_ much better than me. If you're going to call me pathetic, then we both are."

Chazz felt himself growing angrier by the second. "No. I'm not at all like you."

"You are, Chazz, there's no escaping it. We both want to find some worth in ourselves, right? We want others to think us important. But what in a person makes others find him worthy and important, hm? I'll tell you. Money, power, and a good name. How do get that when you aren't born with any of those things, though? You associate with people who have them. That's what your father did, what your brothers did, and now what we're doing. It's impossible to avoid our Princeton way of life—"

"Shut up. Shut up right now, for one moment in your sorry life."

Chazz looked up at him, and looked straight into the other's eyes. He was going to make sure Adrian listened to what he said, for once.

"I don't care if you spend the rest of your life living the way that you are, sucking up to my brothers and reaping the benefits of my father's hard work like you understand all the sacrifices he had to make to give you a place in his home. I'm disgusted by your nerve to put yourself at our level. You are _not_, and never will be, a Princeton. And just for that reason, you can be positively certain that I will _never_ be like you."

It was the way he said it, in a tone that implied other things, that made Adrian frown then, for the first time.

"If that's true, why am I listed as a co-founder of the Princeton Enterprise? I don't recall _your_ name being there. Why am I devoting myself to your father's mission while you're off playing kiddie games in some damn Academy that's no where near home? Where were _you_ when your father died? I'll tell you where I was: right next to his bed, with Slade and Jagger, like one of his sons. His last words to me, 'Not by blood but by spirit.' You want to interpret those words for me? Huh, Chazz? I may not be Princeton by blood, but I've sure as hell worked to become one."

"Adrian," Chazz began, in a tone so venomous it nearly sounded inhuman, "you are sick."

Chazz looked up to find Adrian standing firm even though his face had completely lost color. He could feel all the hatred that had built up over the years pulsating through his veins.

"You're such an accomplished liar you even lie to yourself. You? Working hard to become a Princeton? Then when, please tell me, did stealing money from my father become showing love to him? When did accusing his _real_ son of that treachery become a honorable act deserving respect? And as you watched my father die, you did not feel an ounce of guilt for all the things you lied to him about? There is not a day that I regret more than when I let you get away with that crime; I should have screwed you over and laughed as you were pathetically kicked out into the streets, like a rat. Like you deserve."

"You're lucky that I'm not beating the shit out of you right now."

"That's _my_ line, isn't it?"

"Say what you want, but the truth is, no matter how hard you work to fight it, I'm still going to be your boss come this summer."

"I haven't agreed to anything yet."

"Not even I would say something so foolish. You don't have much of a choice."

"Give it up, I'm leaving now," Chazz spat in return. "One day, Adrian, I _will_ get back at you for what you've done to me. Remember that."

"You don't, Chazz!" Adrian desperately called to the other's now- turned back. "Face it, already! You don't have a damn choice!"

With that, as Chazz marched away, there was only a strange, empty feeling inside of him—it was like nothing he had ever felt before. He felt light. Usually there would always be some sense of either a victory or a defeat but…there was nothing. He was floating. He realized sometime later—he wasn't sure how much later—that his fists were clenched so hard they had gone numb. He figured there was no point in unclenching them. He couldn't feel anything anyhow. He only let himself wander, hoping his legs were taking him to the right place.

* * *

The door opened slowly with a slight creak as Alexis and Mindy tiptoed from behind it into the hotel room, doing their best to stay quiet in case Jasmine was sleeping. They were quite right in doing so, but instead of finding their friend in her bed as they expected, they found her slumped on the chair by the window, the side of her face smashed up unflatteringly against it, snoring quite loudly.

Mindy instantly snorted at the sight and started laughing. "Oh my, how long do you think she's been like this? Hey! Do you have a camera? If only I had a camera right now, Jasmine would think _twice_ before ever getting on my nerves again."

Alexis laughed quietly at that as she took her shoes off, while her other friend continued.

"Hmm, that actually is not such a bad idea. You know how much mileage I could get out of a picture like that? I think I could even get her to clean my room with it. It's classic blackmail." She turned to Alexis. "Too bad I'm nice and all."

"Yeah, if only you were evil," Alexis sighed mockingly. "And had a camera."

"I think that's the only thing that's holding me back." She turned back to Jasmine, and waved her hand in her face. "Hm, she seems to not be faking it."

"Why would she fake sleep? And in such an uncomfortable position?"

"Well, she's done it before, when she wants to avoid people," replied Mindy. "She's really bad at acting though, so she usually doesn't last very long before giving it away that she's awake. One more test can't hurt." She began poking Jasmine in her arm. "Hey, I'm poking you, Jazz. Don't you hate it when people poke you? Why don't you stop me? Ok, yeah, she's out. By now she'd be yelling her head off at me."

Alexis laughed. "Mindy, you're such a weirdo. Let her sleep."

"I'm just messing with her," said the black-haired girl, as she cocked her head to the side as she looked at Jasmine. "Think she's ok now?"

"I don't know," answered Alexis, looking thoughtfully at her sleeping friend. She paused before asking her next question. "Do you buy her story about feeling sick tonight?"

Mindy looked up at her, and shrugged. "I don't know…sickness is a pretty easy excuse to do. She _did_ look a tad pale when we saw her though."

Alexis nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It's just, we thought she'd be spending most of the time with Evan, right? But then, he comes up to us, Jasmine-less, wondering where she's gone. If she was sick, don't you think he'd have known where she was? I don't think she would have left him for no reason."

"Do you think Evan has something to do with her acting strange?" Mindy asked curiously.

"Well whenever he's around her now, she gets in a strange mood."

Mindy thought about that for a bit. "You know, you're right. She _was_ slow getting ready today. It was like she didn't want to go with him."

"Exactly." Alexis sat back in her bed, as both of them looked at Jasmine. "And I know this whole thing with her and Evan hasn't been going on for very long, but usually Jasmine tells us everything about her relationships anyway. But so far, we've been completely in the dark about her feelings."

Mindy nodded as realization set in, while Alexis continued excitedly, sitting back up.

"And you know what else is weird? After Jasmine made her appearance tonight, I told Jaden and Atticus about how she's been acting, and they told me Chazz has been acting strange too. And then, _he_ wasn't here today either. It's most likely unrelated, but I mean, I'd like to know what in the world is going on with both of them."

"Oh! He wasn't there, that's right!" Mindy repeated to herself, as if she was surprised for not noticing that fact. It only took a slight pause, however, before she suddenly turned to face Alexis, her mouth curling up into curious smirk.

"You _know_," she began slyly, "maybe it is related."

Alexis raised an eyebrow in answer. "What?"

"Think about it: Jasmine is gone, Chazz is gone. No one knows where _she_ is, no one knows where _he_ is. Then she comes back, sweaty and _breathless._"

"I'm scared to know where you're going with this."

Mindy looked at her friend excitedly. "It's obvious! They're having a secret relationship!"

Alexis stared. Then, when the words finally sunk in, she laughed. "Mindy, please. They're _not _having a secret relationship. That's ridiculous."

"Hey, it's not thatcompletely far-fetched. My question, _why _is she keeping something like this a secret? He's hot. She should at least tell_ us_."

"She's not telling us because it's not even happening!"

"How do you know? I mean, the signs are all there—"

"There are no signs!" Alexis refuted, but her comment went ignored as Mindy continued.

"—Who knows what naughty things our dear friend has been doing all this time?"

Jasmine stirred in her sleep a bit, causing Alexis and Mindy to realize how loud they were getting.

Alexis shook her head, and lowered her voice. "Whatever. You can have these crazy theories, just don't tell her about it. We don't really know what's up with her and Evan, and she might be sensitive about it."

Mindy sighed, giving her a look of disappointment. "Nothing? At all?"

"Yes, nothing. I mean it! Don't tease her about it tomorrow. Or ask her questions. Please?"

Pouting, Mindy answered. "All right, I won't."

"Promise?" Alexis pressed.

"Yeah, yeah. Promise," she answered.

"Ok, good."

They both looked at Jasmine then, right at the moment when her head dipped so much she started slipping out of the chair.

"Oh no! She's falling!" cried Mindy, who was nearest to her, and caught her just in time. She tried hard to stifle her laugh but a few giggles kept slipping out. Alexis ran up, hand over her mouth trying not to laugh either.

"Well don't just stand there! Help me get her into the bed! She's heavy," said Mindy, as Alexis grabbed Jasmine's legs. With some difficulty, they heaved Jasmine up and took her to her bed, dropping her into it.

"Whew! She is kind of heavy," said Alexis.

"I told you! She should lay off the funnel cakes and nachos sometimes."

Alexis laughed a little, then yawned. "I think we should get to sleep too. It's been some night."

Mindy nodded. "Yeah, and despite the entertainment we're getting from watching Jazz sleep here, the bed's looking _really_ good right about now."

* * *

Even from behind her closed eyelids, Jasmine could tell morning had come; the warmth on her face was all she needed to know that if she opened her eyes right now the sun would have most likely blinded her silly. Feigning sleep for the past few minutes, she had hoped eventually her body would have bought her trick and allowed herself to fall asleep again. Of course, it was completely useless, since the only part of her that seemed to be listening was her foot, as a prickly sensation began to creep over it in its awkward position. Hmph. Not exactly what she had in mind.

Giving up her useless attempts for sleep—the loud gabbing of Mindy and Alexis right next to her did not help matters much, either—she opened her eyes, only to close them again when they met the sting of the bright sun shining through the window. Didn't she just _warn_ herself about that? She opened her eyes again, this time squinting, and looked down at herself to see her clothes from the night before still on, her blouse wrinkled and lopsided. She swallowed and found there was a sour—and quite unpleasant—taste in her mouth.

Hm, funny…she didn't remember falling asleep in the bed last night. Actually, she didn't remember falling asleep at all.

Mindy was first to see her sit up. "Rise and shine!" she sang brightly.

Jasmine was still squinting from the light as her eyes adjusted to it. "Huh? What time is it?" she asked confused, her voice a bit hoarse. When she noticed the two with their duffel bags open, Alexis's almost completely filled and Mindy's half-way done, she widened her eyes in panic.

"We're not leaving _already_, are we? Am I late?" She quickly jumped out of bed and ran to grab her bag.

"Jazz, don't worry, it's only 11:00. We don't have to leave for another three hours," said Alexis. Jasmine immediately calmed down, gently setting the bag she had grabbed in her previous rush on the end of her bed. "Oh…well, why didn't you guys wake me up anyway?" she asked.

"Well, we thought you'd want some more sleep—" began Alexis.

"Yeah, especially from the _wild_ night you had…" Mindy snickered. Alexis gave her a look, and shook her head quickly. Jasmine looked at them, confused for a second before it suddenly changed to panic. Surely they didn't know about what happened last night...did they?

She suddenly felt her face get hot.

Alexis turned back to Jasmine and continued. "We _thought_ you'd want some more sleep because it didn't seem you were feeling so well last night."

At that Jasmine instantly felt herself calm down. So perhaps they didn't know. "Oh, yeah…um, about that, sorry. I'm feeling better now, it's just…" she explained loosely, searching quickly for an excuse. "…it must've been the hotdog I ate."

At that Mindy suddenly snorted in laughter. Jasmine looked at her strangely, trying to find if she had missed the joke. Alexis, however, was looking straight at the laughing girl again, a bit annoyed.

"What's so funny?" Jasmine asked obliviously.

"Ha ha! I'm sorry—ha ha! Don't mind me!" she answered, laughing again and shaking her head. "I'm just gonna go…uh, over there," she said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb at the door. She walked out then, still laughing.

Jasmine turned to Alexis. "What's going on?" she asked, frustrated.

In answer, Alexis only quickly said, "Um, I don't know. Don't mind her."

Jasmine didn't ask more about it, but still, she knew Alexis wasn't telling her something. She began picking up her things from the dresser and putting them into her bag. It was silent for a little while, since Alexis was doing the same, but she then looked back up at Jasmine.

"So, you're ok now, right?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah. Perfectly fine," Jasmine answered. She paused. Was she?

"Ok, good. Because you left pretty fast last night. Evan kept wondering what was up. Are you gonna go talk to him?" Alexis was looking closely at Jasmine now.

"Was he? Oh, well, uh…I don't think we'll be seeing him today," she quickly replied.

Alexis stopped packing for a moment. "Really? Wh—?"

Her question was cut off when Mindy burst back into the room, a soda in her hand. "Whoo! Is it _hot_ out there!" she exclaimed, wiping her forehead.

Jasmine was grateful for the interruption. It saved her from the explanation she knew she would eventually have to give—she just did _not_ want to give it right now. "Yeah, I'll bet. The sun looks like it's killing out there—"

Mindy laughed. "Sun? That's funny, Jasmine. I was talking about this group of guys by the vending machines. But yeah, the sun's hot too."

Jasmine laughed as she picked up a towel and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. "Oh yeah, silly me, I should've known better."

As she shut the door, Mindy turned to Alexis. "Well, she's acting normal now."

Alexis only looked at her sternly. "What?" said Mindy in defense.

"You _know_ what. Don't act so innocent," replied Alexis. "I shouldn't have told you Chazz wasn't there last night."

"And why not? I would've realized it anyway."

"I told you not to tease her about it!"

"I'm not exactly _teasing _her, she just has no idea what I'm talking about. Besides, I don't see why I shouldn't tease her about it. We joke about this kind of stuff all the time."

Alexis sighed. "All right I give up. Do whatever, I don't care anymore. But if she gets mad at you, it won't be my fault."

Mindy pouted. "Aw, don't be like that! Anyways, you know it was kind of funny. I mean, it must have been the hotdog she ate? That girl just walks right into these things."

"Ew, Mindy, stop!"

"Hey, _she_ said it, not me."

* * *

"All right, he's waking up, _get into position_! Zane, you hear me? Get into—argh, fine then, don't, whatever."

Chazz groggily opened his eyes then to find Atticus sitting in a chair across from him—which, peculiarly, was not there before—glaring at him quite suspiciously with his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

"Uh, why are you staring at me?"

"You, my friend," began Atticus accusingly, "were not in that bed the whole night."

"_Oh no,"_ mentally groaned Chazz, _"I knew this was coming."_

"So where were you, Chazz?"

Chazz rubbed his eyes as he quickly thought up an answer. "I was…just taking a walk, to clear my thoughts."

Atticus squinted a little bit, as if evaluating the truth in that statement. "A walk…past your bedtime?" he asked dramatically.

"What? I don't have a bedtime!" Chazz said defensively. "I can stay up as late as I want!"

"Well aren't you a big boy? Ha! I'm just messing with you," said Atticus good-humoredly, his interrogating act falling apart as he laughed. "You've been taking a lot of walks lately."

"Yeah, well…"

"Do you have a girlfriend here or something? You know, if you did, you could tell me," he said slyly. "Don't be shy."

"Huh? No, it's nothing like that."

Chazz looked back up then, to find a suspicious—almost terrified—look on the other's face.

"You weren't like…spying on Alexis then, were you?"

"_What?_ NO!"

Atticus sighed in relief. "Ok, good, just checking. 'Cause then the Brotherly…Code of Honor would require me to pound your brains out."

"I wouldn't ever do that!" Chazz squeaked, blushing furiously. "Geez, Atticus…what's wrong with you?"

"Ok, ok, I know. Didn't think you were doing that, but in this day and age, with all the hooligans running around like they own the place, you can't be too sure, is what I always say."

Atticus stood up and flopped on his bed, bouncing up and down a couple times before speaking again. "Anyways c'mon, Chazz, tell us where you were!"

"I told you, I was just taking a walk…" he lied.

"With a girl?"

"No, by myself! Why is that so hard to believe?"

"I _guess_ it's normal to take walks by yourself past two o'clock in the morning."

"It is normal! People do it all the time!"

"Name some."

"I'm not going to name some. You can't order me around."

"Then I'm just going to believe you were doing something else."

"Fine. Believe whatever!"

"Oh, don't worry. _I will_."

"Atticus, he's telling the truth. Just drop it."

Both Atticus and Chazz looked up in surprise at Zane, who had spoken for the first time.

"I saw him. That's all you need to know."

Chazz was expecting Atticus to throw back some inane comment, but when he merely nodded silently in response, it surprised Chazz only slightly less than the fact that Zane had just_ lied_ in his defense.

But…why had he done that?

Chazz was still staring at Zane, who had gone back to reading his book as if nothing happened, in awe when Atticus broke the silence.

"Well, look at that, it's time for me to eat now! I have this weird craving for soup, so I'll go get some. Alone. You two don't need to come with me. Nope. Just stay here," he said quickly as he stood up from his chair. He gave a small smile to Chazz before leaving, giving him the inkling that Atticus understood perfectly what was going on.

Sure enough, once the door closed behind Atticus, Zane looked back up.

"A walk, huh?"

Chazz sighed. "No, it wasn't just a walk, but what are you going to do now? Question me about what's not your business like everyone else? I didn't think that was in you—"

"I'm not going to question you. Personally, I don't care to know. You have demonstrated on numerous occasions that you do not want anyone to get involved with what's going on. I will respect that."

Chazz felt himself instantly relax. There was something about Zane, in his cool collection of facts and uninhibited honesty that put him at ease. It almost reminded him of his father, in a way.

"There is something you should know, however," Zane continued. "And that is the state in which you returned last night."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you couldn't even open the door. You were lucky I stayed up late last night, because you might have found yourself sleeping outside this morning. All I heard was one thump on the door, and when I opened it, I had to catch you before you fell face-first onto the ground."

"You did?" Chazz grimaced.

"It was like you were drunk."

"But I wasn't drunk!"

"You sure?"

"I don't know what happened. I-I don't even remember that."

"That's not all of it."

"Oh no, what else did I do?"

"You kept mumbling incoherently. Stuff like, 'Gonna get you,' and 'I'm done.' And then you said either 'Money' or 'Mommy'…I couldn't tell."

"Great. I'm going crazy now, aren't I?"

"_I_ thought so."

"I just have a lot of stress on me right now."

Chazz bent his head down and let it rest on his folded hands. Though Zane started to speak, Chazz didn't look up.

"You can't let people get to you that much," he said quietly. "Whatever is going on in your life, don't let it control you. You can change the situation, if you stop your damn crying and make your own rules."

Without another word, Zane went back to his book. Chazz, however, was still stuck on what he just said. _Stop your damn crying and make your own rules. _It kept replaying in his mind, over and over. In all its simplicity and bluntness, that advice was exactly what he needed to hear at a time like this. It was strange; Zane really did sound like his father. Maybe there was a way out of this mess after all…

* * *

"Ugh…it's so hot! I'm getting all sweaty," Jasmine groaned as she, Alexis, and Mindy waited outside on the docks, along with many of the other students from Duel Academy. She was lying on a low section of a ledge that separated the docks and the rest of the island. There were no trees around this area, so they all were in a prime position to be cooked right under the blaring sun.

"I know. The boat should be coming soon, though," said Alexis, fanning herself and looking out at the ocean.

"Ugh. Well if it doesn't come soon I'm gonna just drop dead, is that ok?" she whined back in reply.

"Yeah, that's fine with me. Just keep your arms down, I can see the sweat spots in your armpits from here," teased Mindy from below.

She turned her head to the girl. "Keep _your _arms down!" she retorted. "And I don't have sweat spots, stop lying."

"My arms _are _down. And I never lie."

"Oh, really? Like that time you told me you didn't know where my Teddy Grahams were, and then I found them under _your_ bed five minutes later? Like that?"

"Served you right for not sharing. I was teaching you a lesson, so that doesn't count." She crossed her arms guiltily. "Besides, it's pretty creepy that you got into my room without me."

"Well it's pretty creepy that you're looking at my armpits!"

They were interrupted by Alexis suddenly laughing. "All right, all right!" she said. "Seriously, I'm amazed how you two can find the _stupidest_ things to fight about."

"She started it," said Mindy.

Jasmine stuck her tongue out at her, to which Mindy only replied in a huff, "Oh, that's real mature."

"You're just mad that I won," Jasmine gloated, before turning her attention to the gathering crowd around her. There were a lot more students around now, all looking out anxiously at the ocean for the boat that would take them back to the academy.

Jasmine immediately looked out at the water also, and could faintly make out something coming in the distance. Good, she thought. The sooner she could get on this boat the better. Not only would she get out of this unbearable heat, but…well, she could avoid certain _people_ on there much easier. Earlier she had asked Alexis—as casually as she possibly could, of course—if the guys were going to be riding the same boat as them, but her friend had only laughed and replied, "Jaden? Riding something other than the last minute ferry? Well, I'm sure the rest of the guys would want to leave earlier, but I doubt they will, not with him around." Ok, Jasmine had answered simply, as if they had been talking about some mundane homework assignment. Just wondering. But the sweep of relief she had felt in that moment had been quite significant, to say the least.

Right now, however, she could feel a sense of restlessness sneaking up on her once again. Alexis had never said that they definitely _weren't _going to come, only that she _thought_ they wouldn't. Immediately turning her attention away from the water and instead onto the crowd, she quickly scanned the scene and hoped she wouldn't have to see…well, _him_…again. Not after last night. Not after that little stunt she pulled.

She immediately blushed at the thought of last night. It was hard realizing that she even _did_ such a thing. She had never, in her whole sixteen years of existence, ever done something like that before. She had definitely gotten much too caught up in the moment, that was the only explanation. She had read too many cheesy romance novels. Seen _way_ too many movies for her own good.

It must have all gotten to her head. Subliminal messages, maybe.

She breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the merciful powers that be when she didn't see anybody she didn't want to see. Allowing herself to relax a little, she was about to turn back to the water when her eyes suddenly caught something else. Or some_one_, really.

Tall frame. Nice tan. _Perfect _hair. It was clear who it was. Who else could look that good in spite of everything?

Adrian saw her looking at him, and for a second Jasmine almost looked away. But, although she had no idea why, she didn't. And though at first, his gaze at her mirrored her own look of surprise, his expression soon loosened as he smugly acknowledged her with a smirk. He looked away from her, all the while slowly slipping an arm around a girl next to him, who in turn wrapped her arms obliviously around him. Jasmine looked at the girl and recognized her as someone she had seen around school sometimes, but still didn't know her well enough to know her name. The way she was acting with Adrian right now, though, let Jasmine know that even if she did meet her, she wouldn't like herone bit._ "What a dumb girl_,_"_ she thought, disgusted, as she heard the girl squeal as Adrian picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. _"And even dumber guy."_

She scoffed, but a thought that soon came made her feel like she shouldn't be. Not that long ago she had been that girl, his arm around her as she giggled and flirted all the while, stupidly unaware and gullible. Not that long ago she had actually taken him seriously, had actually imagined that whatever they had had was going to last past this little vacation. And though now, when everything was said and done, and she was ashamed at the ridiculousness of it all, she still could not shake off one question: did that mean Adrian had seen _her_ as an easy target?

She sighed and crossed her arms uncomfortably across her torso, a subconscious attempt of protection. She knew she was smarter than most people thought she was, and yet, maybe she wasn't sending the best signals out to guys. Maybe some changes needed to be made.

"_All right,"_ she thought firmly. _"From now on, things are going to be different." _

There was a little honk of a horn and Jasmine was brought back to her senses as a small ferry pulled in to the dock. Hopping off the stone ledge she joined her two friends lined up at the entrance, along with the other students who had been waiting there.

After the three sat down in their seats, Jasmine still kept her guard up. At every sound of somebody boarding the small ferry, she would launch her head up fast, anxious to know if her very worst fear would indeed happen. She was beginning to feel her nerves calming just a little before she heard a very noisy group of boys make their way through the entrance.

"Hey Alexis! Jasmine! Mindy!" Jaden greeted loudly from across the boat, and began to stomp his way through the narrow aisle.

Jasmine immediately looked up, feeling a pang of anxiety return in her chest.

"_What?! Oh, no…please no, don't let him be on here…please…" _she silently begged. _"Please, please, please…"_

And when she saw that with Jaden it was only Syrus and Bastion—no one _else_—she immediately breathed a long-awaited sigh of relief.

"_Good. I'm safe."_

She sat back in her seat smiling as the three made their way, quite loudly, down the aisle, banging into the other passengers until they finally sat in some empty seats around the girls, to the relief of everyone else on the ferry.

"Whoo-ee!" said Jaden as he plopped down in one of the seats, Syrus plopping down right next to him. "It sure feels good to be going back to Duel Academy!"

"I agree with you there," replied Alexis. "We've only been gone a week but it feels like so much longer!"

"I totally have to finish that project for History too," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I haven't even started."

"That's weird," replied Syrus. "Are you actually starting early or something?"

Jaden turned to him, confused. "'Course not. Why would I do something like _that_?"

"What? Then why are you worrying about it now? Makes no sense!"

"Because it's due _Monday_, duh. And it's Saturday. Which means I only have tomorrow to do it, since I'll be uh, too _tired_ to work on it today."

Syrus started snickering, as Jaden looked at him confused. "What? What are you laughing at?"

"You've got it mixed up. That project's due _next_ Monday, not _this_ Monday!"

"Oh!"

The two burst into a hearty laugh over this realization.

"Ha ha, oh, what if—" gasped Syrus through his laughter, "what if you never found out that the project was due next Monday, and you actually turned it in _early_?"

"Stop it! Stop it!" wheezed Jaden. "The teacher's face!"

"Man, I shouldn't have told you the real date then!"

"Next time! Next time don't tell me the date!"

"Is it any wonder why these two are friends?" asked Bastion to everyone else who had bewildered expressions on their faces.

"I think they're lucky to have found each other," smiled Alexis.

Distracted by the antics of Jaden and Syrus, Jasmine had for a moment completely forgotten about checking the entrance for any new passengers. At the sound of pounding footsteps as someone boarded reached her ears, her head instinctively whirled around in its direction to see who it was. And it took only a single small glance and a churn of her stomach before Jasmine _knew_.

"Hey Chazz!" waved Jaden, indicating an empty seat across from him. "Sit over here, buddy!"

There seemed to be a twisted frown at the sight of Jaden on Chazz's face, but he began heading to the seat anyhow.

Jasmine, however, was horrified. Absolutely horrified. She scrunched her eyes shut, shook her head and opened them back up.

No—unfortunately, she hadn't gone delusional and imagined it all. Chazz had really made it just in time for the ferry, and was really heading his way down the aisle.

Right in her direction.

She immediately whipped her head to the window—a furious blush creeping onto her cheeks—and stared determinedly out of it as if she was thoroughly interested in the seagulls gathering and cawing around the dock outside. She could feel herself slumping lower and lower into her seat as she listened for the thumping of his footsteps pass her row and stop in the one behind, and she desperately hoped he hadn't seen her…

"So did _you_ know the History project wasn't due till next week?"

"Yeah."

"Man, everyone knew. And I was freaking out here!" laughed Jaden. "I thought it was due this Monday!"

"Oh."

"Isn't that funny?"

"No."

"Well, I'm glad I know now."

"Perhaps you should begin listening in class from now on, instead of carving 'I love my Wingman' into the desk all period," said Bastion.

"That was _one_ time that I did that, Bastion," he answered. "And I do love him, why should I hide it?"

By this time Chazz had leaned his head down on the seat in front of him, his arms wrapped protectively around his head as if they were forming a makeshift pillow—and perhaps, to signal to those around him that he did not want to be bothered.

Of course, Jaden never really understood these nonverbal signals of body language, especially not with Chazz. He suddenly reached his hand over and began picking at Chazz's back, who, needless to say, immediately sat up in horror.

"Huh? _What_ are you doing?" he yelled, pulling himself as far from the clueless boy next to him as he possibly could.

"You've got some white fuzz on your back."

The other stared back, this logical explanation clearly not getting to him.

"It's bothering me," Jaden added simply, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

But Chazz continued staring, incredulous. "All right, let me make this clear: don't ever touch me again, for anything. _Especially _not for that. I mean, that's like self-explanatory!"

"Not for anything? What if you had a spider on your jacket?"

"I'll deal," he answered, before once again lowering his head into his folded arms.

"What if…uh…you were dangling off a cliff—and I was the _only_ one for miles around to save you?"

"Let me fall," was the muffled response.

A—very—short silence ensued before Jaden pointed his finger again.

"It's still there—"

"Shut up, I don't care! Let me sleep!"

"All right, all right. I'll let you leave the fuzz there, if that's what you want. I totally respect your personal preferences. That's completely fine with me."

He turned to Syrus then, a sly smirk on his face as if to signal that they were not going to let Chazz of _that_ easily. "Psst, hey Sy," he whispered loudly, so that everyone could hear, "I think Chazz _likes_ having white fuzz on his back, if you know what I mean." They snickered to themselves.

"Well why don'tcha marry it Chazz?" Syrus teased. Some more snickering, this time from the whole group as they caught on to the joke.

"I _do_ love weddings, after all," said Bastion.

"Ooh, me too! I'll be invited, right?" squealed Mindy.

"Of _course_. We'll invite the whole school!" added Alexis enthusiastically.

It was then that Chazz finally sat back up.

"Fine, where the hell is it?" he asked impatiently.

"There," Jaden pointed, reaching for it again. Chazz immediately grabbed his arm. "_I'll _do it!"

He twisted around so that he was looking at his back, pulling his jacket up so that he could better reach the fuzz, which he quickly grabbed. He furiously threw it at Jaden before once again setting his head back down on the seat in front of him in a huff.

And though she had been staring out the window the whole time, too scared to join in on the others' teasing, Jasmine had heard everything. And she couldn't help smiling.

"_What a weird guy." _

* * *

Being back in school, Jasmine realized, was not something simply done after having a week-long vacation. It was even harder when during that week, things she had never imagined happening had happened, and weren't so easily forgotten. But she was trying her best to forget it and move on. It did, though, help improve her mood tremendously that ever since the ferry ride yesterday, she had not seen a single trace of Chazz.

Now here she was, well-rested and nerves calm, sitting peacefully in the Duel Academy cafeteria eating lunch with her two best friends as if the whole previous week had not happened. This, she thought, is how life should be. No worries. No guys. And delicious free food.

Jasmine suddenly heard Mindy stop talking about whatever it was she had been talking about for the last five minutes, and when she looked up, she knew what caused the interruption.

"Hey Bastion," Mindy said flirtatiously, with a little wave.

"Oh! Hello Mindy," he answered formally, blushing a bit as he passed by carrying his tray.

Mindy watched him for a little while, chin resting in her palm and smiling, and then turned back to her friends.

"Hey, you know what I noticed? If I married Bastion, my initials would be M.M….as in MM, delicious!"

Alexis and Jasmine stared back at her, eyebrows raised.

"Because M.M.? Like mmm? Like the thing you say when you like foo—"

"Yeah, Mindy, we _get _it," said Jasmine, as Alexis laughed.

"Well, why isn't anybody more excited about this? These sorts of things don't just happen everyday! C'mon!" she replied, picking up Jasmine's arm from the table and shaking it. "Whoo!" she squealed, as Jasmine's hand flapped limply side to side.

"Whoo!" Jasmine replied, mockingly. "I'm _so _excited."

Mindy scoffed, putting her friend's hand down. "Oh, don't be jealous just because you aren't so lucky to have double M's for _your_ initials."

"You don't have them either, you know."

"Oh yeah. Well, I guess I'll have to marry Bastion now, won't I? I think I will, just for that."

Jasmine laughed. "Yeah, that makes sense. What are you waiting for?" she said, as she ate a French fry.

"Hmm, Mrs. Misawa…Mindy Misawa …_Mrs_. Mindy Misawa…" Mindy said to herself giddily as Jasmine and Alexis exchanged looks. "It just flows right off the tongue, doesn't it?"

Jasmine was about to shoot back a retort when her attention became caught on the cafeteria doors next to them opening—or rather, on the person walking in through them. She could feel herself start blushing madly as Chazz inevitably cast his gaze at their table—they just _had_ to be sitting right in front of those stupid doors, thought Jasmine angrily—and raised his eyebrows. Jasmine immediately looked down at her food, trying her best to hide her face. But there was no avoiding the problem: Alexis, being the good ol' friend that she was, cheerfully called him over.

"Chazz! Hey!" she waved.

"Uh, hey," he replied, and even though she knew he had walked up to their table, Jasmine never dared once to look up.

"Come sit with us once you've gotten your food, ok?"

"Oh…" he said uncomfortably before he sighed. "Well, ok…I guess."

The sound of hasty footsteps told Jasmine that he had walked away. It was ok to look up now, he was gone. But for some odd reason, she didn't feel quite so comforted by that thought as she did yesterday when they were on the ferry.

"Oh, yay! Chazz is going to sit with us!" squealed Mindy. She turned to Jasmine, smirking. "Aren't you happy _too_, Jasmine?"

Jasmine looked straight at her. "No, I'm not, actually," she replied, a little more harshly than she intended. Actually, she wasn't intending to sound harsh at all. But there was no way she could stay any longer, not when Chazz would be coming back. Not after the offhand way he looked at her after he walked in, and definitely not after the way he unenthusiastically agreed to sit at their table. She knew he wouldn't have replied like that if it had been only Alexis and Mindy sitting here. But since _she_ was here too…she could tell he regretted that Alexis had seen him.

"Whoa, ok. Sorry, I was just kidding. I know Evan's the only man for you, blah, blah, blah."

Jasmine looked down and fiddled with her fingers. It's not like she expected him to be pleased to see her, and she certainly didn't expect him to be happy about her kissing him. She was in _no_ way happy about it herself. But was it so incredibly terrible? He didn't have to go and make her feel so completely…undesirable.

"Look, I have to go now," Jasmine replied shortly. "I'm not hungry anymore."

She quickly picked up her tray without another word and left, leaving her two friends behind in confusion.

"See that? Now I'm _convinced_ something bad happened between her and Evan," said Alexis, looking back at Mindy. "Seriously, she hasn't even said one word about him since we came back. Nothing. She always tells us everything. I'm getting worried."

"Yeah, I think so too. She totally ignored what I said," answered Mindy. "But what could have possibly happened? I am dying to know …hey, I've got it! I'm sure I could speed things up and find a cute guy for her. If anything bad did happen with Evan, she'll be over him in no time."

Alexis thought about that for a bit. "You know, I never thought I'd agree with you about something like that, but I think I am...you sure you'd be able to do find a worthy guy that quickly?"

"Oh yeah, of course I could! I'm _awesome_ at setting people up. Now, if you had ever let me set _you_ up with anybody, you would know that."

"Well, I'll just trust your word for it."

Mindy pouted. "Are you ever going to go on a date, Alexis?" she sighed. "Seriously, I could set you up with—"

"Nope, that's ok."

"Not even Jaden?"

"No."

"Syrus?"

"No."

"Chazz?"

"_No._"

"Seto Kaiba?"

"…Maybe."

"Ok, good, you didn't say no to that. I deem you partially sane."

"Uh, thanks for the approval, but what about _Jasmine_?" asked Alexis, trying to get back to the subject.

"Look, don't you worry about Jasmine—I got it covered. There'll be a guy for her in no time!" Mindy said confidently, as her expression changed into one of determination. "I_ won't _let her say no," she finished fiercely.

"Well don't be scary about it!"

"Scary? What do you think I'm going to _do_? Kidnap her in her sleep, tie her up and drop her in front of some random guy? You really think I would do that?"

Alexis stared at her. "I really don't know anymore."

Mindy scoffed. "Maybe with _you_ I would, but see, Jasmine didn't fall on her head as a baby to make her abnormally uninterested in dating, _ahem_,_ ahem_…besides, I already have some plans in mind." She smiled deviously as she hopped up with her lunch tray. "Tell Chazz I'm sorry I had to leave, but I had very important and pressing matters to attend to. Because Alexis, I have some _investigating_ to do!"

Alexis watched the girl skip away happily, an unwary look forming on her face.

"_Oh no, Jasmine…what have I gotten you into?"_


End file.
